


Quarantine

by Too_Much_Fandom



Series: Social Distancing Collection [1]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Dorks in Love, Eventual Smut, F/M, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Only One Bed, Oral Sex, Quarantine, Rough Sex, Sharing a Bed, but also dorks in lust, but also sweet sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:28:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23121007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Too_Much_Fandom/pseuds/Too_Much_Fandom
Summary: It has been discovered that Grindelwald's blue fire contained some sort of dangerous pathogen. All survivors of the rally are immediately quarantined for two weeks. Newt and Tina end up in the same isolation room. Which happens to contain only one bed...
Relationships: Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander
Series: Social Distancing Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709653
Comments: 87
Kudos: 173





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> With the world quickly disintegrating around us, I figured we needed this. I am not yet in official quarantine, but my kids' school is now closed, and my husband and I are now both working from home while also making sure the kids participate in their Zoom classes. 
> 
> Anyway, I decided to put Newt and Tina in quarantine. And use that delightful favorite trope of fic readers everywhere, so I gave their isolation room only one bed. They'll just have to manage somehow :-) Anyway, whether you're stuck in quarantine or just need something to take your mind off scary things, here you go. Enjoy!

The group sat around a plain table in the isolation room, surrounded by blindingly white walls and a strong antiseptic smell. Newt, Theseus, Jacob, Tina, Nagini, Travers, Dumbledore, and an assortment of aurors had been herded into the room as soon as the unconscious Yusuf Kama had been whisked away. 

The one thing they all had in common was that they had been at the Paris rally. Well, except for Dumbledore, but he had taken tea with the group upon their return, and had been there when Kama suddenly collapsed. And so, he too was ordered to the isolation room. 

"This is rubbish, honestly," Newt huffed, "it's more of that parasite from the sewers. He'll be fine, and none of us can catch it." 

Theseus glared at his brother for scoffing at such a serious situation. "Qualified healers seem to think otherwise," he grumbled, "and until they give us clearance, we stay in this room and follow whatever instructions they tell us."

Two healers, swathed from head to toe in protective suits, and wearing masks, entered the room. Everyone turned to them, waiting for news. 

"The patient is stabilized and in isolation," one of them explained, "and it appears our theory is correct. There was something infectious in the fire at that rally. We don't know what, exactly, but you're all going to have to go into quarantine immediately." 

A chorus of angry murmurs rang out from around the table, and the second healer spoke up. "This is for your safety, as well as that of London, and possibly beyond. You will go in pairs. We will visit each of you every day, to check on you, and to gather information that will help us figure this out."

More suited and masked healers entered the room, and began picking up pairs from the table, apparating them away, to who knew where. Newt didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to his brother before Theseus was whisked away with Travers. Then, he felt himself being pulled up. He didn't have the chance to see who was coming with him before he was sucked away into side-along apparition. 

However, his mood lightened considerably when he appeared in the quarantine quarters and saw who he'd be sharing them with. "Tina," he breathed out. 

"Newt," she replied, and they both looked away blushing. 

"Make yourselves comfortable, you're going to be here at least two weeks," the healer that brought them here explained, "now, we are fully stocked with food and water to last over a month if need be. We have clean clothes for you, and a receptacle in which to dispose of what you're wearing right now. You may use magic as much as you'd like, as long as you don't leave this space. It is advisable to sanitize your wands after each use," he gestured to a large container labeled Wand Sanitizer.

"We will be coming every day to assess you. If any concerning symptoms develop between visits, touch your wand to this red button here, and we'll come right away. Any questions?" 

"Yes, um, actually, my case…" Newt started. 

"Not to worry, Mr. Scamander, the exterior of the case has been sanitized and brought back to your home, where your assistant will take care of the creatures."

Newt relaxed slightly. He wasn't thrilled about being separated from his creatures, but Bunty was more than capable of caring for them in his absence. 

"Anything else?" the healer asked. Newt and Tina shook their heads. 

"Good luck then! See you tomorrow!" and he stepped outside through the front door, then magically sealed it so that Newt and Tina could not leave. 

Now they finally had a chance to talk. They'd been planning to talk after tea with Dumbledore, but then Kama had fallen ill, and they'd rushed to the hospital, and, well, it had all been rather a mess from there. But now they had at least the next two weeks, with nothing but each other. 

"So…" Tina started, "I suppose we should acquaint ourselves with our surroundings now." 

Newt nodded in agreement. They were in one room, with several doors. The first door was the front door, magically sealed to prevent them from leaving. Another door led to the toilet, and a third door to the shower. There were no more doors, so it seemed this one room was it. 

The room contained an ice box and a pantry, a small kitchenette, shelves packed full of other staple supplies. And of course there was a bed. One bed. Newt and Tina glanced back and forth between each other and the one bed several times, both growing redder by the second. 

Finally, Tina spoke up. "I think I'm gonna go wash up and change." She pointed her wand at the shelf full of clothes and summoned a change to the room with the shower, and then followed, closing the door behind her. 

Newt paced the room frantically as she showered. There was nothing but a door between himself and Tina. Who was in the shower. Presumably naked. He ran his fingers through his hair trying to calm his thoughts. This wasn't right. They still hadn't sorted out whatever was between them, they were not even close to the point where he should be thinking of such things… 

He looked over at the lone bed again. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't exactly about to complain about sharing a bed with Tina. But what if she found it uncomfortable? Well, if one of them was going to have to sleep on the floor, of course it would be him. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. But, he couldn't say he wasn't hoping that Tina would be amenable to sharing the bed, and it wasn't because he didn't want to spend two weeks sleeping on the floor… 

The door opened, interrupting his thoughts. Tina stepped out, hair damp, and wearing the thin, hospital issued clothing that clung to her in all the right places. Newt trained his glance on the floor and wordlessly strode into the shower room, practically slamming the door behind him. He opened it a second later and poked his wand out to summon his own hospital issued clothes, and slammed the door again. He kept his shower cold. 

Now it was Tina's turn to calm her nerves as her thoughts drifted to Newt showering. She sat on the edge of the bed. Would they be sharing it? Not that she'd mind… He was probably going to be a gentleman and offer to sleep on the floor though. If he did, would she protest? Or let him? She wasn't sure. 

Newt came out of the shower, dressed in the same hospital issued outfit. Tina couldn't contain her giggle. 

"Do I really look that ridiculous?" Newt asked nervously, pulling out his wand to dry his hair. 

"Not at all!" Tina immediately clarified, "it's just kinda funny that we're stuck wearing the exact same outfit right now." Newt had to laugh at that as well. 

"If anything," Tina added, "I'm the one who looks ridiculous. I can't imagine this getup is at all flattering…"

"I don't think anything could possibly be unflattering on you," Newt said quietly, before he could stop himself. He chanced a glance at Tina, who was beaming. He would have liked to kiss her then and there, but backed away again, overcome by shyness again. With two weeks in isolation ahead of them, and he was sure it would happen soon. But he was afraid of overwhelming her.

"I'll get dinner started," he offered, turning toward the small kitchenette, and fumbling around with his wand. 

"Yeah, that works," Tina muttered, trying not to sound too disappointed. 

They ate in silent awkwardness, stealing covert glances at each other, not unlike their very first dinner together, both too overwhelmed to figure out how to proceed. Should they make small talk? Discuss Paris? Continue their interrupted conversation from the vault? It was easier not to talk at all. 

After clearing up, Tina announced she was going to bed. “Ah, yes,” Newt replied as the blush crept up his cheeks, “I will, of course, take the floor.” He waved his wand to start arranging pillows into a comfortable setup. 

“No, I wouldn’t expect-you don’t have to-” Tina sputtered, not sure how to tell Newt she was fine with sharing the bed, without sounding too forward, “it’s just...Well, we’re here for two weeks and you shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor.” 

They both nervously looked at the bed, and then everywhere else but each other. “I- thank you, that’s very kind Tina,” Newt said earnestly, hoping he didn’t sound too eager. 

“It’s fine, I promise,” Tina smiled shyly, as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Newt took his cue and sat down on the opposite edge. 

As they slid in under the covers, Newt wedged himself as close to the edge as he could without falling off. Not because he didn’t want to be close to Tina. He very much did. He desperately desired to be as close as humanly possible to her, and hoped she might one day let him. But until that day, the most important priority was her comfort, and if that meant he had to teeter on the edge of a shared bed, so be it.

Then, as he closed his eyes, he felt a small rumbling coming from the other side of the bed. He listened intently for a few minutes, his heart breaking every second as it dawned on him. Tina was crying, presumably over her sister.

Newt was done being reserved. He couldn’t let Tina cry alone. He scooted closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face Newt with her tearstained face and nodded. Newt took her hand with his other and squeezed it comfortingly.

“I’m here for you,” he whispered, looking directly into her salamander eyes, “I’ve got you, Tina.” 

She wordlessly squeezed his hand back, and they lay awkwardly, side by side, until they both dropped off to sleep, hands still loosely intertwined.


	2. Days 2-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt and Tina begin to adjust to their new normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! My town is now officially under quarantine. Everything is closed except for groceries and pharmacies and there are strict limits on how many can be there at a time. My kids are getting the hang of distance learning, but it's rough. Ao3 is one of the few escapes left to me. So please comment, even if only to say hi!

The first light of the day filtered in through the window. Well, it wasn't a real window, but it was charmed to reflect the time of day, so that the occupants at least could have a sense of time. 

Newt sat up and stretched, ready to attend to his creatures, before suddenly remembering that he wasn't with them. He thought about laying back down, but was already too awake for that. 

He looked over at Tina's sleeping form next to him. His heart thumped so hard he thought it might beat out of his chest. He thought back to last night. He'd held hands with Tina, comforted her as she'd cried, then fallen asleep next to her… Would they be able to move further than that? Would she be ok with it? Well, he had 13 days to find out. Surely, with just the two of them, some progress would be made. 

He looked fondly at Tina once more and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, just as he'd done at the docks in New York before getting up to wash up and fix breakfast. He didn't see the small relaxed smile on Tina's sleeping face. 

When Tina did wake up a half hour later, Newt was already sitting at the table reading a very outdated newspaper. 

"Good morning," he grinned shyly, "how are you this morning?" 

"I'm OK," she blushed and looked away as she headed to the bathroom. 

Newt had a plate of pancakes ready for her by the time she came out. "I'm sorry, they're not that good. I did my best, but I'm not Jacob…"

Tina chuckled a bit at that, then sighed. "I hope Jacob's alright," she bit her lip nervously. 

"Me too," Newt agreed, "I suppose we can ask the healers when they come to assess us."

Tina was chewing her pancakes slowly, trying, and failing, to hide her grimace. 

"That bad?" Newt raised an eyebrow. 

"Oh no, not at all-" 

"It's fine Tina, I'm merely a passable cook under the best of circumstances and they haven't exactly given us a lot to work with here," he grinned sheepishly. 

"OK, if I'm being honest, yeah, they're pretty terrible. Sorry Newt," she shrugged, blushing, then placed a hand over his, "not that I think I'd do much better… I think we may be leaving this place a bit thinner than we entered it…"

They looked at each other for a moment, then both broke down laughing. At that moment, there was a knock at the door. 

"Must be the healers," Newt muttered. Tina nodded and called for them to enter. 

"Good morning Mr. Scamander, Miss Goldstein," the first masked healer nodded at each of them, "all well this morning? Any symptoms?" 

Newt and Tina shook their heads no. "Alright then," the second healer spoke, "each of us will assess one of you. It won't be more than a few minutes."

As the first healer wrapped the blood pressure cuff around Newt’s arm, Newt took the opportunity to inquire after Theseus and Jacob. 

"Have you seen my brother yet?" 

"Yes, he's healthy right now, no symptoms and all vitals normal," the healer assured him. 

"And what about my friend, Jacob?" Newt added, right before a thermometer was shoved in his mouth. 

"You mean the muggle?" 

Newt nodded in the affirmative. 

"So we discovered that this pathogen doesn't affect muggles," he patted Newt on the shoulder as he sighed in relief, "he is staying at your home, keeping house until you return." Newt nodded to show he understood. 

"Tell me, can you guys bring us some newspapers or magazines tomorrow?" Tina asked after her healer took out the thermometer. 

"I don't see why not," the healer shrugged, looking over at his companion, who nodded his assent. 

"Alright," the first healer concluded, "vitals check out, everything is fine so far. We'll be back tomorrow, with some new reading materials for you. Be well."

With that, the healers left and magically sealed the front door behind them, leaving Newt and Tina isolated once more. 

“So, we’re stuck with years-old magazines till tomorrow,” Tina grumbled after them.

“Well, I think I saw a few games on the shelf under them,” Newt walked over to check. He pulled out a dusty box that supposedly contained Exploding Snap cards. He opened it up and scowled. It was missing cards, and he could already tell the magic was weak. But, he wasn’t about to complain about doing something even just a little bit fun with Tina.

They sat down to play the game. As suspected, the magic was weak, and the cards didn’t really explode so much as groan. 

“They really oughtta call this Groaning Snap,” Tina joked, and Newt couldn’t help but chuckle at that. 

“I suppose Groaning Snap is better than staring at these four white walls,” he shrugged, “although if it’s not enough for you, I think I saw a box of Gobstones on the shelf.”

“No thank you, not worth the risk,” Tina snorted, “it’ll probably spray us with toxic waste.” 

They continued their game for a while and then Tina got up to fix lunch. 

“Was my breakfast that bad?” Newt joked, as Tina started charming various kitchen items to work.

“Yeah,” Tina giggled, “but also, it’s my turn. You fixed dinner last night too. Don’t expect much though, I’m not much better than you. It was always Queenie who…”

Her face fell immediately, and Newt was standing next to her with his arm around her shoulders before the first tear fell. She buried her face in his shoulder and he rubbed soothing circles in her back as he held her. 

“I’ve got you, Tina,” he whispered again and again into her hair. It broke his heart to see her suffering like this, so he just did the best he could to be there for her. At least he was here to comfort her while they were stuck in isolation. He couldn’t be there for his brother, who was no doubt suffering terribly as well, so he doubled his efforts for Tina.

“I’ll finish fixing lunch, you sit here,” he gave her a squeeze and steered her to the table. 

“No, it’s fine, it’s my-” 

“You’ll take the next three meals,” Newt insisted, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and letting his hand linger just a bit longer against her cheek than he had at the docks. Merlin, he needed a distraction. As much as he wanted to kiss the breath out of her, he figured she wouldn’t appreciate it much while grieving for her sister. Maybe tomorrow would present a better opportunity. 

The day was a bit more subdued after that. Newt wanted to offer Tina the chance to talk about it, but didn’t want to seem too pushy. Tina herself wished to open up to Newt, but worried about burdening him too much. And so, they retreated into themselves for much of the rest of the day. 

When they got into bed for the night, they didn’t bother pretending to argue over whether or not Newt was welcome to share. They’d already worked that out last night. And given how they’d fallen asleep, they didn’t even bother with the pretense of staying as far apart as possible. However, they did stick to their respective sides of the bed. Tina, having gotten her big cry in that afternoon, didn’t cry herself to sleep, so Newt felt he had no excuse to offer to hold her hand. 

Tina missed holding hands too, but if he wasn’t going to offer, she certainly wasn’t going to ask. She contented herself with remembering how he’d held her earlier that day, comforting her, and used that memory of his touch to drift off into sleep.

The first light of the day filtered in through the fake window, the same way it had yesterday. But Newt didn’t open his eyes just yet, because now he remembered there was no reason to. Besides, he didn’t want to let go just yet of the wonderful dream he’d been having, of holding Tina tightly against him. It had felt so real…

And then he opened one eye and realized that it  _ was _ real! She was right there, snuggled up against him, back to chest, still sleeping. His own arm was slung lazily around her middle.  _ Merlin, I could wake up like this every day, if she’d let me… _

He sighed into her hair, enjoying the position for a few more moments. The thin isolation clothing left little to the imagination. He could feel how close she was, how there was nothing between them but the thin layer they each wore. The very thought caused a stirring below. One that, given the skimpiness of the material covering him, Tina was bound to notice. Newt quickly jumped out of bed, made a run for the washroom, and turned on an ice cold shower for himself…

Tina stirred. She’d been having such a nice dream about feeling Newt holding her. It felt so wonderful that the sudden loss of warmth woke her. She opened her eyes and found an empty bed, but the running water in the washroom told her that Newt had simply woken up already. She took a moment to savor the lovely dream she’d just woken from, and started working on breakfast, to have it ready by the time Newt came out of the shower. 

Newt barely spoke throughout breakfast. His face was beet red, and he studied his plate intently. Tina wondered what that was all about when she went for her own shower. By the time she came out, the healers had arrived for their daily assessment. As with yesterday, there was no change in their status. Nor in the status of anyone they’d inquired after. But, as promised, they’d brought some current magazines and newspapers, much to Tina’s delight. 

Unfortunately, the current papers only trumpeted disturbing headlines about Paris. And half of what they said was wrong anyway, as these two people who had actually been there could fully attest. 

“The press is rubbish,” Newt scowled, crumpling the Daily Prophet into a ball, “as I already learned the hard way,” he looked pleadingly at Tina. It seemed the inevitable moment of continuing their conversation from the vault had arrived. 

“It was my fault,” Tina said sadly, looking at the floor, “I should have reached out to you, written to ask what was going on-”

“Why should you have any reason to believe differently than what it said?” Newt shook his head, “if anything, I should have bothered to keep up with whatever press I was getting…please, don’t blame yourself, Tina.” 

“As long as you don’t blame yourself either,” Tina smiled shyly, taking Newt’s hand and giving it a squeeze. 

Newt was about to reply when it suddenly hit him. The real reason he was kicking himself for not having known about the magazine. Tina had gone and started seeing someone else, and he’d lost out. And yet, she hadn’t mentioned Tolliver at all since they’d reunited. And she had allowed him to show small signs of physical affection...Did he dare ask? Before he could, Tina managed to bring it up herself.

“Newt...when you said down there...when you said you’d heard I was happy, what did you mean by that?” 

“Well, it’s just, Q--I’d heard that you’d--that there was--” he stammered, barely able to get the words out through the knot in his chest, “I heard you were seeing someone back home?”

Tina bit her lip endearingly, as she said the best three words Newt had heard in days. “No, I’m not.” 

“Oh,” Newt smiled softly, holding himself back from jumping for joy.

“We went out a couple of times, but it didn’t work out, he really wasn’t my type,” Tina looked away blushing furiously, “but that’s a story for another time.”

“What better time is there than now?” Newt blurted out, unable to hold himself back. But Tina was grinning impishly.

“It’s not that now is a bad time,” she conceded, “it’s just, we’ve still got a while yet in here and I don’t want to use up all my good stories too soon,” she winked. 

“Well, that’s not fair!” Newt crossed his arms in mock indignation.

“I promise, I’ll tell you,” she squeezed his upper arm affectionately, and Newt bit his lip, blushing. He could have kissed her then and there, but felt she was signalling a need to go slow. It was enough for today, he supposed, to have cleared the air and at least learned she was available. No doubt, by the end of this dreadful stay, they’d come to a happy understanding.

Newt summoned over the pathetic set of Exploding Snap. “Maybe we should ask the healers tomorrow about bringing better games,” he suggested as he set the cards up.

“Yeah, no reason not to,” Tina agreed, “they were fine with bringing the papers.”

The day wore on. By the time Tina fixed dinner, Newt was very weary. Not from exertion, of course, but from cabin fever. Even with Tina, the whole business of being isolated was beginning to wear him down. 

When they settled in for the night, it was Tina who took his hand. “I know it ain’t easy,” she sighed, caressing the back of his hand, “I’m starting to feel rather looney myself, being all cooped up in here. But I’m here for you. I’ve got your back, Newt.”

Newt smiled and squeezed her hand back. “Yes, and I’ve got yours. Never doubt that, Tina,” he yawned. They were laying the closest they had since being brought here. That alone was enough to let them relax easily and fall asleep quickly. 


	3. Days 4-5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the days of isolation wear on, Newt and Tina get a little short and snappish with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this one's a little short, but the good stuff is coming really soon! Hang in there, and don't forget to drop a comment, even if just to say hi! This is my lifeline right now!

When the light filtered in on the morning of the fourth day in isolation, Newt did not wake up. With no creatures to attend to, there was no need. When he did begin to stir, he found that he was once again wrapped around Tina, perhaps even a bit closer than he had been yesterday morning. Based on where they’d left off their last conversation, things were definitely going in a positive direction. He lingered a bit, holding Tina in his arms, until he heard a knock on the door. 

Newt looked at the clock, not willing to believe he really had slept that late, but both the clock and the persistent knocking told him it was indeed time for the daily assessment. “I’m coming,” he called out sleepily, reluctantly letting Tina go just as she began to stir herself. She sat up in bed rubbing her eyes as Newt shuffled to the door to let the healers in. 

“Have we woken you?” the first healer asked jovially. Although it was hard to tell his facial expression through the mask, Newt was fairly certain he detected a teasing smirk in his voice. 

“No, not at all,” Newt insisted, running his fingers through his impossibly messy hair, although he knew it wouldn’t help, and would probably make it worse. By now, Tina had gotten out of bed too. She waved her wand to smooth out her hair, which worked well enough. 

“There’s still no change in Mr. Kama,” the second healer announced before Newt and Tina even asked, “however, that does mean he hasn’t gotten worse, so that’s good, at least.”

“What about my brother?” Newt asked, just before taking the thermometer in his mouth. Tina smiled sympathetically at him, over his care for his brother. 

“As of now, no change,” the first healer told him, “don’t worry, if anything happens, we’ll make sure to inform you right away. He asks after you every day as well.”

Tina’s heart sank. She wondered if Queenie was missing and worrying about her as much as she was missing and worrying about her. Newt wanted to reach out and hold her hand, but waited until the healers declared them fit and left until tomorrow. 

“Hey,” he said softly, squeezing her hand, and looking into her eyes. He didn’t say anything more, as he didn’t know what he could say. He couldn’t fully understand. All he could do was let her know that he was there for her.

She smiled and squeezed back, before letting go to prepare breakfast. The day dragged on interminably slowly. There were only so many rounds of games they could play, and they had already read through every page of reading material available. And without even creatures to occupy him, Newt got really antsy.

The room grew dark. “It’s a little early for that,” Tina looked over at the clock. 

“Must be the weather,” Newt replied, looking out the false window, which had indeed gone gray with thick, swirling clouds, “reminds me of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The ceiling is bewitched to match the sky.”

“That sounds pretty neat,” Tina admitted, “but Ilvermorney is still better.”

Normally, Newt would have chuckled at that, but the isolation was beginning to get the better of him, and he replied a little more harshly than he meant to. “Ilvermorney is a poor imitation of the real thing,” he huffed snootily. 

Tina herself might have taken it as good natured ribbing if not for her own isolation induced crabbiness. “There you go again, with your dumb old ‘everything American is backwards and bad, bad, bad’ routine,” she snapped back.

Luckily, at this point, Newt realized that it would be best to rein things in and not let their moods get the better of them. “I’m sorry, Tina,” he said earnestly, squeezing her shoulder, “I do believe I’m starting to go a bit stir crazy in here, but that doesn’t give me the right to-”

“No, I’m just as bad,” Tina sighed dejectedly, “come here, you,” and she grabbed Newt in a tight hug. 

Newt stiffened for a moment, partly from surprise, and partly from not liking hugging in general, but reminded himself that this was Tina. He was perfectly glad to hug Tina. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and just enjoyed the moment. If only one good thing came from all this, it was endless time spent with her, and the budding relationship between them. Then and there, he resolved to himself that he would tell her how he felt before their time in isolation was up. 

They stared at each other after breaking apart, frozen for a few moments, wondering whether now was the time to continue. Tina broke the moment by offering to get dinner started. Newt swallowed his disappointment and nodded. Maybe tomorrow he’d tell her. 

The weather did not let up when the fifth day dawned. In fact, the window was an even darker, and more ominous gray than it had been the previous evening when the clouds had first rolled in. As though reflecting the coldness of the weather outside, Newt and Tina did not wake up close to each other, as they’d done the last few mornings, but rather turned away and curled into their own respective corners. 

The ominous start to the day was matched by the news brought by the healers. Kama was still not improving, and now Theseus had been sent to the hospital just that morning.

“It’s merely a precaution,” the healer assured him, “he just has a high fever, but his other vitals seem alright. It’s just safer to keep him in the hospital now.” 

Newt nodded, but didn’t feel reassured at all. The seriousness of the situation was really starting to hit him, and the fact that he couldn’t even see his ill brother made it worse. 

After the healers left, Tina squeezed his hand sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Newt,” was all she could say, and Newt just sadly rested his head on her shoulder for a bit. 

Tina took on breakfast that morning while Newt moped. She understood when he wasn’t in a chatty mood over breakfast. She straightened up while he showered. She started to get a little bit annoyed when he refused to play Exploding Snap.

“I don’t think staring at these four white walls is going to do anyone any good,” she chided, “it certainly won’t help your brother, and it’s not going to make you feel any better.”

“How can anything make me feel better, when my brother is in the hospital with a life threatening illness?” Newt moaned.

“And there ain’t nothing you can do about it!” Tina pleaded, “so at least try to make the best of it! At least you know where your brother is...”

“And he’s sick because of the madman  _ your  _ sister decided to ally herself with!” Newt said venomously. He regretted his words instantly, the moment he saw Tina burst into tears. “I’m sorry…” he immediately backtracked, reaching out to her, but she flinched and turned away, leaving Newt despondent. 

He started working on lunch, but when it was time to eat, it was Tina’s turn to to sit silently through the meal. Newt didn’t even bother cleaning up. They both sat on opposite sides of the bed, rereading some of yesterday’s papers and magazines and not talking. Newt was also beating himself up over having hurt Tina so badly, but wasn’t sure how to make it up to her.

He fixed dinner, and when they sat down to eat, he apologized again. “Please, Tina,” he pleaded, “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m upset and I’m scared, but that’s no excuse...I know how scared and upset you are over her, and I swear, Tina, as soon as we get out of here, I will work together with you to find Queenie and bring her home.” 

He reached out for Tina’s hair, tucking it behind her ear and this time letting his hand linger on her cheek. Much to his relief, she didn’t turn away, but rather sighed into his touch. “I’m sorry, Tina,” he whispered again. 

“It’s OK,” she whispered back, smiling weakly.

Newt was so distracted from focusing on Tina and patching things up with her, that for the second time, he failed to clear up after a meal. As far as he was concerned he had all day tomorrow to take care of it. What did it matter anyway? 

As they headed for bed, Tina admonished him for holding his wand in his mouth. “Do they not teach wand safety in England?”

“Wand safety is for aurors,” Newt huffed bemusedly, but placed his wand on the nightstand nonetheless.

“Well, don’t come crying to me to fix your face when your wand scrambles it, Mister Scamanader,” she shook her head, but with a twinkle in her eyes that told Newt she wasn’t being entirely serious. 

When they tucked themselves in for the night, they held hands again. For now, at least, all was forgiven.


	4. Day 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tension continues to build as stress drives Newt and Tina continue to continue arguing. Will they finally snap?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, enjoy a bit of lemonade in this dreary quarantine. Hope it brightens your day a bit.

The window was still showing a harsh, iron gray the following morning. Newt found himself once again pressed up against Tina, which was a good thing, but also necessitated a cold shower. Tina woke up while he was showering and began to fix breakfast. She was not pleased with the two meals’ worth of mess Newt had left behind. 

The healers arrived just as Newt was coming out of the shower. They informed Newt that Theseus was still feverish, but awake, and seemingly able to fight off the infection without too much intervention. Tina gave him a hopeful little smile, but he was too agitated to feel much relief. 

Once the healers left, Tina vented her brewing frustrations on Newt. Lightning flashed against the false window, telling them that a storm was blowing outside. 

"I get you're worried about your brother, but that's no excuse to stop living like a normal person!" she yelled, gesturing to the pile of dirty dishes Newt had left from yesterday. 

"I was going to take care of it just now," Newt crossed his arms defensively. 

"Oh really," Tina rolled her eyes, pulling out her wand to start on the dishes. 

"I just said I would do it!" Newt huffed irritably. 

"Well, now that you left it sitting there for a day, how do I know you're gonna do it right?" Tina shot back. 

"I know how to wash dishes, I've lived alone long enough, thanks," he muttered caustically. 

"Says the wizard who walks around with his wand hanging out of his mouth and casually breaking laws everywhere he goes," Tina goaded. 

Newt looked up and bore his fiery gaze into Tina. Even in her anger and irritation, she had never looked more beautiful to Newt than she did in that moment. And yet, she'd never frustrated him more either. 

“You know, ever since I’ve met you, it’s just you harping on one thing after another,” Newt vented, “always finding fault, always demanding this or that. You are just so…" he curled his hands at his sides, "so damn BOSSY!”

“What did you just call me?!” Tina stepped forward, clearly spoiling for a fight. 

Newt sputtered angrily, but took two steps forward, his face now inches away from hers. “You heard me! You are the most incorrigible, infuriating, impossible witch I have ever met!”

He stared daggers at her, as confusing emotions continued to roil within his chest, threatening to explode. He’d never been so exasperated by anyone in all his life, and yet, at the same time, he wanted nothing but to kiss the breath out of her and tell her just how hopelessly in love he was...

“Well, let me tell you something, Mister Scamander-” Tina started to shout back, but found herself cut off by a rough, fierce kiss. 

As they’d inched closer, his need to have her had won out over his need to spar, and, despite the incongruity of the moment, he’d cupped her face and just gone for it. Tina had stiffened for a split second, but as soon as it dawned on her that Newt was  _ kissing her _ , exactly as she’d been desperately dreaming of for months, well, she decided to kiss him right back. 

She threw her arms around him to draw him closer, and opened her mouth to allow his tongue access, which he quickly obliged. The anger and frustration had not quite dissipated, but rather fueled their passion. 

“As... I was... saying… Mister Scamander,” Tina husked out between kisses, “you...aggravate me...to no end…”

“You...torment me…constantly...” Newt breathed out as he kissed her sloppily, soon venturing from her mouth to her neck, sucking little bites all the way to her collarbone. 

“If you weren’t...so...damn…” Tina tugged at Newt’s shirt, causing the thin fabric to rip. Newt pulled the ruined garment off the rest of the way, revealing his freckled, scarred chest. “Reckless!” Tina finished chiding him, and began running her tongue over each and every scar. 

Newt brought his own hands up to tug at Tina’s shirt. He gave her a smoldering look as she looked up momentarily from the attention she’d been giving his chest, and nodded her assent. Newt didn’t need telling twice, he ripped her shirt right off with one strong pull, and growled hungrily as the pieces fluttered to the ground, and he got his first glimpse of her breasts, and her dusky pink nipples already standing at attention. 

"Impossible…you are absolutely impossible…" he reminded her, as he roughly cupped one breast with his hand, and grabbed the other with his mouth. 

"You have…" Tina moaned as Newt enthusiastically toyed with her nipples, "absolutely no regard…for the law…" Her nipples continued to tingle pleasantly as Newt sucked and flicked them. She could feel the moisture growing below as she began to ache where she wanted him most. 

As much as Newt could have laved that breast with his tongue all day, it wouldn't have been fair to the other breast, so he released it with a wet pop. But he took that moment of freeing his mouth to reply to Tina. 

"And you have entirely too much regard for the law," he pouted, before grabbing her other breast in his mouth and sucking it hard, as he flicked his tongue around the gloriously stiffened peak of her nipple. 

Tina cried out in pleasure, and Newt felt himself growing harder than he ever thought possible. 

But she was not done venting yet, and soon gained enough composure to air yet more grievances. She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling roughly as he continued to attack her breasts. 

"You called me a careerist hypocrite!" she whined. 

Newt took a minute to respond, because his mouth was still very busy with the most perfect tits he'd ever come across, and he didn't want to pull himself away. But he was not about to let that statement go unchallenged. 

"You know full well I did not!" he countered, "I told you, I didn't mean you! You've gone middle head!" 

"Middle head…" Tina nodded, placing her hands around Newt's waist. She gazed intently into his hooded eyes, and he swallowed visibly before nodding curtly. 

"Let me tell you something about middle head, Mister Scamander," she smirked as she yanked his pants down, cupping his hard, throbbing length as he sprang free.

Newt closed his eyes as Tina got down on her knees, and hissed as she took him in her mouth. 

"Incorrigible witch," he managed to gasp out as he felt the pleasure building. He tangled his fingers in her hair as she bobbed up and down along his length. 

She slowly released him, and stood up, ready to challenge his latest statement. She shucked her own pants off and kicked them away. 

"Intransigent wizard," she huffed out, before kissing him once more, hard enough to bruise. 

Newt wrapped his arms tightly around her, relishing the feel of her completely naked body flush against his as they kissed fiercely. 

"You will be the death of me, you stubborn, bossy witch," he hissed in her ear, trailing more little bites down her neck as they tumbled into the bed together, still kissing heatedly and grasping desperately at each other. 

He cupped her mound and ran his fingers along her seam, which was dripping wet. He slid one finger, then two, inside, pumping them as he used his thumb to toy with the pearl of her clit. 

Tina was panting and moaning too much to reply. "So wet," Newt purred in her ear, "whatever shall we do about it?" 

Tina could only cry out as her orgasm overtook her. However, she soon sat up and pushed Newt against the back of the bed as she straddled his hips. Newt was panting with his desire, desperate to bury himself all the way inside Tina, and she knew it. 

"How bad do you want me?" she simpered, as he reached up to massage her breasts again, flicking her nipples into hard points. 

"I want to fuck you, right here, right now," he growled, before sloppily capturing her lips with his own. 

"Hmmm, I'm not so sure," she pondered, as she rubbed her wet seam against him, causing him to shudder and moan, "you frustrate me so…"

Newt let out a small whine, and Tina relented, taking him in hand and lining him up with her entrance. "Well, I suppose I can let you in. With one condition…"

"What's that?" 

"Never. Call me. Bossy. Again!" she said emphatically as she triumphantly sank down onto him. They both sighed in unison as they came together. 

"Demanding, then," Newt replied, giving her a hard thrust, "though please, be as demanding as you want right now…" he groaned. 

Newt pounded hard with each thrust, as Tina rode him with equal fervor. As they moved, they continued to suckle little bites on each other. 

"Fuck," Tina moaned as she began to scale the crest of a new wave. 

"That's it," Newt grunted, squeezing her hips tight as she rode him harder, "keep fucking…" he smirked triumphantly as she fell apart in his arms. 

"Your turn," Tina moaned, as she went limp against Newt's chest. 

Newt was so close to his own edge that he didn't bother flipping them over. He gripped Tina's sweat slicked body tightly against him as he drove into her so hard and fast that the sound of his skin slapping against hers echoed against the walls. 

"Fuck, Newt, I'm gonna come again," Tina moaned, and cried out once more, her walls squeezing tight around Newt. 

"Tina…" Newt groaned, as he tumbled over the edge a split second later, gushing his warm release deep inside her, before pushing her back into the bed as he collapsed, panting, on top of her. 

They lay there for a few minutes, waiting for their breathing to come back to normal. Newt rolled off of Tina, and quickly took her into his arms as she snuggled against his shoulder. 

"Well, that was…" Newt began, as he tenderly stroked the length of her arm. 

"Wasn't it?" Tina interjected. Their eyes met, and they both smiled giddily as they brought their lips together. 

"Did you really mean all that? Those things you said?" Tina looked at him questioningly as they pulled apart. 

"No," Newt smiled reassuringly, "well, not most of it. You are quite impossible, you know," he squeezed her tighter and pressed his lips against her forehead, before concluding, "and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And you are still reckless and intransigent," Tina grinned, stroking the back of Newt's neck and toying with his hair, "and I wouldn't have it any other way either."

"The auror and the loose cannon, what a pair we make," Newt whispered in Tina's ear, making her giggle. 

They kissed once more, relishing in the feel of holding each other close. The dishes could wait. Lunch could wait. There was no need for that pathetic Exploding Snap set, not when they'd found something so much better to do with their time. 

Exhausted from their earlier activities, their kisses soon grew lazy, and they rolled into a comfortable spooning position. Newt draped his arm over Tina's stomach and she twined her fingers with his as they dropped off to sleep. 

Newt woke up to find the pink and orange rays of a sunset shining through the window, casting long shadows. His stomach grumbled, so he slowly slid out of bed, careful not to wake Tina. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and then headed to the kitchen to fix dinner. He didn’t even bother to put any clothes on. There didn’t seem to be a point. 

Tina was still sleeping when he finished eating, so he fixed a plate for her and then cleaned up. She woke up just as he slid back into bed. 

“How long did we sleep?” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“A few hours, it seems, it’s past dinner,” Newt kissed her temple softly, “go on, I fixed you a plate.”

Tina beamed as she kissed him sweetly. “Thank you,” she whispered, before getting up to eat

She didn’t bother to get dressed either, and Newt covertly admired the view. “Hey, you cleaned up!” she exclaimed as she sat down to eat.

Newt just shrugged with a smile. Tina finished, washed her own dish, and then slid back into bed, shivering a bit.

“I know something that can help with that,” Newt bit his lip endearingly as he opened his arms. 

Tina happily allowed him to envelop her with his body. “Much better,” she sighed happily, before looking up and kissing him.

“Indeed. Everything is much better like this,” Newt squeezed her tight before yawning loudly.

“Still tired after that long nap, Mister Scamander?” Tina teased.

“What can I say, you quite wore me out, Miss Goldstein,” Newt smirked, capturing her lips in a slow, intense kiss. 

After they broke apart, Tina nuzzled her head against Newt’s shoulder, as he nuzzled her hair. “G’night,” he mumbled with a quick kiss to her forehead before dropping back off to sleep.

“Sleep well,” Tina kissed his cheek softly, before following suit. 


	5. Day 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the tension finally broken, Newt and Tina enjoy their time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No real plot here. Enjoy some Porn With Feelings :-)

The light filtered in through the false window as it did every morning. Though they’d been sleeping later and later each day, after the long nap and early night yesterday, the pair began to stir with the first light of dawn. 

“I could get used to waking up like this,” Newt whispered in Tina’s ear, before kissing her temple softly. 

Tina shivered pleasantly and turned around to face Newt, kissing him languidly. “Agreed,” she breathed against his lips as they pulled apart. They smiled shyly, for a few moments before Newt’s face fell, as he took in the little purple marks peppering Tina’s creamy white skin.

“Merlin, Tina, I’m so sorry,” Newt said earnestly, “I’m sorry I was too rough yesterday, I didn’t mean to-” 

Tina giggled and cut him off with a kiss. “I liked it,” she told him, and, when Newt looked at her skeptically, added, “I wanted it. Three times getting off, Newt...I think that should make it quite clear just how much I enjoyed myself. Besides, it appears I gave as good as I got,” she smirked as she lightly traced her fingers over Newt’s shoulders, where she’d left her own trail of purple marks. 

Newt was still unsure. He brought a hand up to tangle in Tina’s hair. “It’s just, I want you to know...I’d never want to hurt you…”

“Newt, I promise, it’s fine,” Tina assured him again, “if it ever isn’t fine, trust me, I’ll-”

“I love you, Tina!” Newt blurted out, and Tina went silent and still as he continued, “I love you, and I just--the most important thing to me is that you’re alright. Always.” 

Tina blinked for a moment, then her eyes welled up, and she whispered, “really?”

“Why ever would you doubt that?” Newt whispered back, pulling her in for a kiss. 

“I love you too, Newt,” she smiled at him after they broke apart, “how--how long have you loved me?”

“While I can’t quite say it was the moment I laid eyes on you, it wasn’t long after that,” he explained, “I think it really hit me when you sang your school song…” 

“Of all the things,” Tina shook her head bemusedly, “it was me singing a ridiculous school anthem that got you…”

“Well, what about you?” Newt asked as he dropped random little kisses around her face and neck, “when did you know?” 

“When you went after Credence,” Tina said softly, “the fact that you were going to save him, rather than kill him...But I don’t think I really admitted it to myself until...until that damn magazine. When I saw that, I really felt like I’d been punched in the gut…” she trailed off, trying not to cry.

“I am so sorry I didn’t know about it sooner,” Newt whispered into her hair, holding her tight, “I wish I could have spared you that...but I’m here now. I’m here, and now you know that I love you.”

Tina looked up at him with watery eyes, and they shared a slow kiss. Newt began to run his hands along her body. 

Tina moaned delightedly, running her fingers through Newt's hair. He kissed his way right back up to her mouth, then whispered against her lips, "what do you say to taking it slower this time, love?" 

His arousal pressed heatedly against her thigh, as he held her close and kissed her some more. Tina was relishing the feel of having every inch of her attended to and appreciated. 

“Slow, yeah,” she breathed out, “I want to savor every moment.” 

Newt grinned, and began to trail his kisses away from her face, making sure to kiss each and every bruise he’d left the day before. As much as Tina insisted that it had been fine, he still felt guilty about it.

When he reached her breasts, he teased her nipples gently, with little flicks of his tongue, making Tina whimper. 

“I do love to hear you like that,” Newt breathed out, “and to see you...to see all of you. I love you…” he trailed off, and went back to lavishing Tina’s breasts.

As Tina continued to express her delight through gasps and moans, Newt soon left her breasts to give his attention elsewhere. He kissed his way downward, paying extra attention to her hips when he noticed he’d left marks there too. 

Tina tugged at Newt’s hair, and he looked up momentarily, his kiss-swollen lips slightly parted, his hair endearingly mussed beyond anything Tina had ever seen.

“Newt, let me take care of you,” she insisted, but Newt cut her off with another slow, heated kiss.

“Right now is all for you,” he told her, cupping her cheek before heading back to where he’d left off, “all for you, love.”

He kissed her hips once more before moving on to her thighs. As he inched closer to his destination, Tina trembled in anticipation. Newt grew dizzy from the heady scent of her wetness. 

“Newt…” Tina gasped in supplication as he spread her glistening folds, and that was all the encouragement he needed to dive right in.

He wrapped his mouth right around the pink pearl of her clit, alternating between sucking and flicking with his tongue. Tina was no longer gasping, but moaning loudly and freely, the sounds of her pleasure going straight to Newt’s cock. 

He continued working on Tina with his mouth. He knew she was close by the way she was writhing against him. With one final push of his tongue, she fell apart with a loud cry. 

“That’s my girl, that’s it love,” he murmured against the inside of her thigh, smiling as he held her through it, before kissing his way back up. He briefly stopped to play with her nipples again, before making his way back up to her face.

She kissed him deeply, growing wetter as she tasted her own scent on his lips. “I’m ready for the rest of you,” she breathed in between kisses. Dark salamander eyes found bright sea-green eyes, shining with nothing but pure love and adoration. 

Newt entwined his fingers with Tina’s while he used his other hand to line them up, never breaking eye contact as they joined together, and sighed delightedly in unison. They took a moment to kiss before beginning to move. 

They started slow, but naturally moved on to a quicker more frantic pace, both gasping and moaning each other’s names as they climbed to the crest. Newt absolutely adored watching the bliss on Tina’s face as she reached the edge yet again, something he hadn’t yet had the chance to really watch.

“That’s it love, let me watch you,” he whispered in her ear, continuing his frantic thrusting, “I’ll catch you. I’ve got you Tina. Come for me, love.”

A split second later, Tina reached her climax and tumbled over. “Newt…” she cried out, going limp as he covered her lips with his. As her breath slowed down, “your turn, make me yours.”

“Did I not already?” Newt quirked an amused eyebrow.

“You can make me yours as much as you want,” Tina smiled, as Newt began snapping his hips forward, chasing his own end.

He cupped Tina’s cheek tenderly, and got lost in her eyes as he came inside her. “I love you so much,” he murmured against her neck as he collapsed on top of her. They stayed joined for as long as they could before Newt slid out and rolled to her side, taking Tina into his arms. They smiled and nuzzled noses.

“You know, quarantine really ain’t bad at all,” Tina quipped, pecking Newt’s jaw sweetly.

“Indeed, I could stay like this forever,” Newt agreed, “just us, all day and all night, we don’t even have to bother wearing clothes…” he smirked suggestively.

“Well, we kind of do,” Tina said, inclining her head towards the door, “at least when the healers are here. Speaking of which, they’re gonna be here in half an hour, and we need to shower and, um, well, clean up a bit…”

“Oh, all right,” Newt pouted, “but we shower together. And no more clothes after they leave,” he crossed his arms with a huff, making Tina burst out laughing. 

“I can’t object to that, Mr. Scamander,” Tina teased, “now, come on. And no playing in the shower, we really do gotta clean up.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of bed, and he eagerly followed her into the shower. 

“My first hot shower since we came here,” Newt sighed as he enjoyed the hot water washing over him.

“Why’s that?” Tina arched an eyebrow as she enjoyed the view before her, still hardly daring to believe this all was real.

“Because until yesterday, I had to keep my, erm, desires to myself,” Newt smiled giddily as he brought his arms around Tina, and pressed a kiss to her forehead as she giggled. 

“You had it that bad, huh?” she replied, with an air of genuine surprise.

“Why so surprised?” he asked. He knew Tina tended to be very hard on herself and it broke his heart that she struggled so much to know her own worth. 

“Least wanted and all,” she shrugged and cast her eyes downward. 

“No,” Newt cupped her chin and lifted her face toward his, “most wanted. I’ve wanted you so badly, this whole time-”

Tina cut him off with a kiss, and he held her close as they kissed under the streaming water. Tina suddenly pulled back.

“Mercy Lewis, we really gotta hurry this up!” she said sternly. Newt pretended to pout, but he knew she was right. They had days, and hopefully much more than that, ahead of them to take their time in the shower. 

They quickly finished up and dried off. Newt let out a disappointed whine as Tina put her clothes on. Tina couldn’t help chuckling at that. “Now now, Newt, it’s only for a few minutes,” she winked as she playfully kissed the tip of his nose. 

Then, they both got to work on clearing the room of all evidence of the activities they’d been engaging in since after yesterday’s visit. Newt waved his wand to banish the remnants of the clothes they’d literally torn off each other yesterday, to the trash. Tina, meanwhile, decided it would be more practical to change the bedding than to clean it right now, so she banished the linens to the hamper and summoned fresh sheets onto the bed. They both used air freshening charms to clear the room of the mingled scents of sweat and musk, which they were just finishing up as the knock on the door sounded. 

“Just in time,” Newt kissed her cheek softly before calling out that they were ready for their guests.

As if today couldn’t get any better, the healers brought them the news that Kama was awake and beginning to improve, and that Theseus’ fever had gone down and he seemed to be fighting the infection on his own. 

After the healers left, Tina jumped into Newt’s embrace, and he happily dropped small kisses in her hair. “See? I told you it was gonna be alright,” Tina sighed against his shoulder.

They didn’t throw their clothes off right away like they thought they would the second the healers left. They went straight to breakfast, then to playing games and reading together, with plenty of chaste kisses stolen along the way. The day passed by very pleasantly, and before they knew it, they were getting ready for bed.

“I can’t believe we kept our clothes on all day,” Newt remarked, as he took his off.

“I dunno, I mean, I don’t think people generally walk around their homes without ‘em just because they can,” Tina shrugged, shucking her own clothes off, “and besides, we got plenty of time to enjoy each other like this.”

They got into bed and held each other close. They were both pretty exhausted from the two back-to-back intense lovemaking sessions they’d already had, so tonight, it was just holding each other and enjoying feeling close. They had another week of isolation, but now that their love was open, it was something to look forward to. They had each other, and that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts below! And hang in there! (I know, easier said than done)


	6. Days 8-9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quarantine is terribly monotonous. Good thing Newt and Tina have found something to do that never gets boring...Also, some important conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a nice long chapter to get you through another day. Please let me know your thoughts below!

The following morning also had them waking up at dawn. “Ugh, what am I supposed to do this early?” Tina whined as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

“I miss my creatures,” Newt complained, “but perhaps this early morning won’t be entirely for naught. I can...think of a few things we could do if you can’t fall back asleep,” he whispered suggestively in her ear, sending pleasant shivers up her spine. 

Tina rolled over to face Newt, and kissed him. “I suppose,” she whispered against his lips, “but you’re the early riser here. I’ll need you to work a little at waking me up,” she smirked.

Newt was all too happy to take her up on her challenge…

“I’m sorry you can’t be with your creatures now,” Tina sighed against his chest while they cuddled in the aftermath, “that must be real hard…”

“Not as hard as…” Newt trailed off, not wanting to mention Queenie, but she caught his meaning instantly. 

“It’s gonna be OK. As soon as we’re outta here, I’m gonna go find her,” Tina said resolutely, causing Newt to stiffen.

“About that...what are your plans after this?” he asked delicately, “will you...will you be returning to America?” His heart dropped to his stomach at the very thought. The thought of being separated from her again, now that they’d finally gotten together, was too much to bear.

Tina didn’t want to really think about it because she honestly didn’t know what her plans were at all, which was a great source of anxiety. But she understood why he was asking, and perhaps...perhaps he could help her figure something out.

“I don’t actually know, if I’m being honest,” she sighed heavily, “I doubt MACUSA will want me at this point, not after my sister...I’ll be lucky if they don’t put me in jail!”

Newt’s sea green eyes blazed with indignation. He wanted to object, insist that they couldn’t possibly be so unfair, but of course, he knew full well from his own experience with MACUSA that they very well could be that unfair, or worse. 

“I won’t let them,” he declared, holding Tina as tightly as he could and pressing kisses to her forehead, “I won’t allow it. I’ll keep you away from them, no matter what it takes…”

“I love you, Newt,” Tina kissed him softly, “but I mean, long term. What do I do?” A tear slid down her face, which Newt immediately kissed away. “Even if I only lose my job, I can’t afford my apartment. Not that I’d want to go back with...with my sister gone...but I have nowhere to go…”

“That’s not true,” Newt cupped her cheek fiercely, “you do not have nowhere to go. You’ll always have a place with me. Tina, stay in London? With me? Please?”

“Are you sure?” she asked plaintively.

“I can’t really imagine anything else,” Newt smiled shyly and kissed the tip of her nose.

“But how will that work-”

“If it’s a scandal you’re worried about, it won’t just be us,” Newt explained, “I doubt Jacob will want to go back either, so he’ll stay with me too. And though he’ll argue, I can’t in good conscience let my brother live alone, at least not for a few months. As for whether you’ll be allowed to stay in England, Theseus and I will make sure you can,” he finished resolutely. 

“And what about my search for Queenie?” Tina’s fiery salamander eyes bore into Newt.

“You don’t seriously think I’d leave you to do that on your own?” Newt quirked an eyebrow, “I love you, Tina. I’m coming with you, don’t even bother objecting.”

She didn’t. She simply buried her face in his shoulder again and relaxed in his arms. The knot in her stomach loosened a bit. There were still a lot of unknowns, but Newt’s insistence that she stay, that she had a place with him, was definitely a relief. 

This time, Newt was the one to notice the clock out of the corner of his eye. “We need to shower and straighten up, love,” he announced, “they’ll be here in less than half an hour.”

Once again, they managed to greet the healers free of any evidence of the early morning’s activities. They spent the day lazily, playing games, and swapping amusing tales. As dinner time drew near, Newt remembered that Tina had mentioned an amusing story several days ago that she hadn’t wanted to use up too early into their stay here.

“So, what did happen with that Tolliver fellow?” Newt asked after they cleared up from dinner, “you said it was an amusing tale and promised to share it with me!”

“Oh, that!” Tina giggled, “it isn’t much, really. But I did promise, so here,” she sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the space next to her, inviting him to join. He sat next to her and took her hand and kissed it. 

“I told you the other day how I was real broken up when I saw that magazine article,” Tina started, “so my sister...she advised me to just shake everything up. I got my hair cut, updated my wardrobe, and decided I was gonna start dating. And not just anybody either. I wanted kinda, well, no offense, I was real sore over you, so I was looking for someone who was kinda the opposite…” she looked away, embarrassed. 

“None taken, love,” he assured her, “it’s understandable. You were feeling hurt because of me…” he shook his head sadly. 

“Over you, yes, but not because of you,” Tina lifted his chin and kissed him softly, “it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know...anyway, so I figured an auror would be a good candidate, because of, you know, what you’d said about aurors…”

“Merlin, Tina, are you ever going to let me live that down?” Newt shook his head in amazement.

“I’m not sure. I suppose it depends how you behave, Mister Scamander,” Tina winked suggestively. 

“Anyway, so Achilles had already asked me out a couple of times and I decided to take him up on it,” Tina continued, “and the first date was alright, nothing special, and I already knew I wasn’t so into him, he mostly talked about himself...but, I was trying so hard to move on, so I agreed to a second date. And, well, on that second date, he said something that I just couldn’t allow to slide.”

“What was that?” Newt’s ears perked up.

“Well, the conversation turned to magical creatures, and would you believe the nerve of this guy, he said our laws didn’t crack down hard enough, that creatures were a scourge on society, and only good as far as they were useful for potions ingredients!” Tina huffed indignantly. 

Newt’s eyes narrowed dangerously, thinking about Tolliver’s horrid attitude towards creatures. “What then?” he wanted to know.

“Well, that was the end of that, of course. But I was so angry that I couldn’t just up and leave, and unfortunately, it was a no-maj restaurant, so I couldn’t hex him, even though I really, really wanted to. So…” she trailed off, biting her lip and smiling shyly, a little embarrassed, but also proud of how she’d ended the date, “I, well, I threw my drink in his face as I stormed out…”

Newt was so overcome on hearing how Tina had stood up for creatures everywhere, that he just tackled her to the bed and ardently smothered her with kisses. “My darling Tina,” he breathed out between kisses, “I love you...I love you...Merlin, Tina, I love you so much…”

For the second time that day, they found themselves in a sweaty tangle of sheets and limbs, lovingly holding each other, basking in the afterglow. 

“I believe I’ve already told you you’re an impossible witch,” Newt whispered as he nuzzled into Tina’s hair, “what I didn’t realize then was that it’s not only because you sometimes frustrate me, but also because you’re so incredible, so special, it seems impossible...and yet, here you are…”

They shared a slow, soft kiss. “You over flatter me, Newt,” Tina sighed against his lips.

“Don’t sell yourself short, love. I honestly never thought I would ever know someone who would see and understand magical creatures as I do,” Newt replied before capturing her lips once more, then, after breaking apart again, “and then I found you.”

“You’re pretty impossible yourself, in the same way,” Tina said as she kissed his cheek before settling against his chest.

“Then we’re an impossible pair, I suppose,” Newt grinned.

“Yeah. And I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Tina smiled back as she yawned. 

Newt hugged her tight as she fell asleep. “Sleep well, love,” he whispered into her hair, before falling asleep himself.

The following morning began with the now familiar routine, of waking with kisses and caresses that soon grew heated. 

“Wait,” Tina pulled back from Newt’s attentions for a moment, “I have an idea I want to try.”

“You want me to stop?” Newt looked up from between her breasts, questioning.

“Well, no,” she smirked suggestively, “not stop, exactly. I just want to try something new. I mean, we have to shower anyway before the healers come for their daily check, right?”

“Yes…” 

“Well, I was thinking, why not just do it in the shower?” 

“I like the way you think, Miss Goldstein,” Newt agreed as he took her hands and pulled them both up to sitting. 

“So what are we waiting for, Mr. Scamander?” Tina pecked his lips, then pulled him out of bed and to the shower. 

Newt moaned in delight as Tina rubbed soap all over his chest. His cock twitched watching the water stream over her shoulders and down her breasts. He could have taken her then and there, but held back in order to enjoy the possibilities that came with being in the shower. 

Tina briefly took Newt in her mouth, but he had to stop her. “Easy there, or this will be over far too soon for your liking,” he gasped out, “now, my turn to help you wash…”

He rubbed soap liberally on her breasts and the taut plane of her stomach. The sight of the soap running down her slick body, and the sound of her heady moans once again tempted him to bury himself inside, but he wanted to pleasure her more first. He got down on his knees and lifted one of Tina’s legs over his shoulder as she gripped the bar on the wall to keep her balance, and he used his mouth on her until she fell completely apart.

“There’s more where that came from,” Newt whispered in her ear when he stood back up.

“Take me here, against the wall, right now,” Tina moaned in reply, which Newt happily obliged, but not before reaching for his wand to mutter a quick anti-slip charm. 

Safety assured, he pushed her up against the wall as she wrapped a leg around his waist and sank down onto him, eliciting breathy moans from both of them. 

Newt worked hard and fast, pounding Tina against the wall as she clung tightly to him, while the water from the shower continued to wash over them. 

“Almost there,” Tina gasped, digging her nails into Newt’s shoulders as he kept up the frantic pace.

“Me too,” he grunted, “now, come for me, love…”

Tina cried out as she reached her climax, a split second before Newt gave one final thrust, plowing deep into her just as he let go and filled her with his release. Tina brought her leg back to the floor, and Newt gently slipped out, but continued holding her against the wall.as he recovered. 

“Wow…” was all Tina managed to say as she came back to herself.

Newt was equally speechless and just kissed her in agreement, before taking her hands, and leading her back to the direct stream of water. They stood together underneath, holding each other and kissing fiercely as the water rinsed them off. After they broke apart, they took another few minutes to wash up again so that they could be ready for their visitors. 

After yet another repetitive day of meals, games, and reading increasingly boring and repetitive material, they were both feeling a little weary. 

“Five more days of this,” Tina grimaced, as she flung yet another insipid, outdated magazine to the floor, “I’m going stir crazy.”

“It is enough to drive one mad,” Newt agreed, “but I am so glad we ended up paired together.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Tina squeezed his hand, “I couldn’t have gotten through this without you...and you know what? There’s one thing that I can never get tired of, even in this situation,” she whispered saucily in his ear.

“You’re still up for it after this morning?” Newt raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Definitely. Are you not?” Tina cocked her head to the side.

“Oh, I most definitely am,” Newt growled possessively, pulling Tina into his lap and wrapping his arms around her as she giggled. 

“Then what are you waiting for, Mr. Scamander?” she teased, then, whispering in his ear again, “take me to bed.”

Newt didn’t need telling twice. They kept a slower, gentler pace than their morning encounter, but no less passionate. As it was early evening, they had a long night ahead, and enjoyed a long, lazy cuddle when they were done. 

It was at that point that something occurred to Tina that should have occurred four days ago. “Oh shit,” she moaned, hiding her face in her hands. 

“Tina, what is it? What’s wrong?” Newt asked, concerned, “was it too much? Should we have waited till tomorrow?”

“I-I-I…” was all she could say.

Newt held her closer, and kissed her soundly. “Whatever it is, I’m here for you. I hope you’ll never tire of my saying it, but I’ve got you, Tina.”

Tina took a deep breath. There was no way to sugarcoat it, she was just going to have to be forthright. “I’m not protected!” she cried out.

“It seems we’re quite safe here,” Newt replied puzzled, “and I’ll always look out for you, besides you’re an auror and-”

“Not that kind of protection!” Tina cut him off, her eyes wide with panic, “I mean, you know…” and she moved his hand to her lower abdomen.

It still took a couple of beats, but Newt’s breath stopped and his eyes grew wide to match Tina’s as the point sank in. “Oh,” was all he managed to say as the blood drained from his face.

“Yeah,” Tina sighed. 

“I’m so sorry, Tina, I’m such a prat, I should have thought-” 

“It’s just as much my fault,” she interjected, “it doesn’t matter now, we were both real dumb not to think of it. Now what?” she buried her face in Newt’s shoulder.

Newt held her close, drawing deep breaths to keep himself steady. “What’s done is done, we’ve done it how many times in the last few days?” 

“I think six,” Tina bit her lip, and they both turned crimson as they realized just how prolific they had been in the last four days.

“Anything that might have, erm, resulted by now, has happened, though it’s too soon to know,” Newt continued, hoping he sounded a lot calmer than he felt, and reminding himself that worrying meant suffering twice, “that is to say, Tina, there’s a not so small possibility that it’s already happened, so, um, I want you to know...I love you, Tina. If anything…” he caressed her middle meaningfully, “if anything has resulted from what we’ve been doing, I promise to stand by you. I will take full responsibility.” 

“I...I appreciate that, Newt,” Tina smiled nervously, placing her hand over his and giving it a squeeze, but Newt could tell that she wasn’t entirely convinced. 

“Tina, listen to me,” Newt cupped her cheek with his free hand and gazed intently into her eyes, “it’s, well, it’s definitely a worry, I won’t deny. But please understand, I mean it. I love you. We’re in this together. I would never let you shoulder that alone. I mean it, Tina. I will take full responsibility for any...consequences.” He kissed her thoroughly.

“Oh Newt!” she cried softly against his lips, “I don’t deserve you…”

“Nonsense, love,” he insisted before kissing her again, “if anyone is undeserving, it’s me...of course I will be there, come what may. Now, do you think...shall we ask the healers tomorrow about bringing over some, erm, some prophylactics for us going forward?”

Tina colored brightly. “No way,” she shook her head vigorously, “not a chance. We can’t tell them what we’ve been up to...way too embarrassing...”

“If you don’t feel comfortable with that, then we won’t,” Newt assured her, kissing her forehead, “so do you wish to abstain then, until we leave here and can take care of it on our own?”

Tina thought for a moment, then drew Newt in for a languid kiss. “I don’t know. I think I’d lose my mind if we couldn’t, we haven’t got much else to do here...It’s like you said, Newt, what’s done is done. It might have already happened. And if it hasn’t, well, at this point, I’m willing to take my chances. You?”

“I don’t mind taking the chance either. Whatever happens, happens,” Newt brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, “and I will stand by you no matter what. So, erm, same routine tomorrow?” he raised a suggestive eyebrow. 

“S’long as you can keep up with me, Mr. Scamander!”

“I swear to Merlin, you will be the death of me, Miss Goldstein.”


	7. Days 10-11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isolation drags on. Newt and Tina need to fill the time, and it can't always with their new favorite activity. More serious conversations happen too, but also some playfulness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. This was a hard chapter to write! Hope you like it!

Some time in the very early morning hours, Newt was woken by Tina crying. “Tina?” he called out softly in the dark.

“I’m OK Newt, go back to sleep,” she sniffed.

“If you truly want to be alone, tell me, and I’ll leave you alone,” Newt reached out and affectionately squeezed her bicep, “but I’m happy to stay up with you if you want. I love you, Tina. I don’t need sleep if you need me.” 

Tina silently rolled into Newt’s arms and let him hold her. “I failed her. I failed my sister. And now she’s gone, and I don’t know what’s gonna be…” 

“Listen to me, Tina,” Newt murmured against her neck, “I can’t promise anything or assure you that it will all work out. But I know one thing: this is not your fault-”

“I wasn’t paying enough attention, was too busy fighting with her all those weeks…” Tina wailed over his soothing voice.

“And your sister is a grown woman, who is responsible for her own choices,” Newt finished quietly. Tina opened her mouth to argue, but then buried her face in Newt’s shoulder, crying softly.

“When will I see her again? How will I get her back?”

“I don’t know, love,” Newt stroked her hair, “but I will help you. Wherever your search takes you, I will be there. As long as you’re looking for her, I will be looking with you. And...for Credence too…” The thought of Credence gave him a sense of what Tina was feeling over Queenie. If only he’d moved faster... Maybe if he’d agreed to the Ministry’s plan, he’d have gotten to Credence first...

“Hey, if I’m not allowed to blame myself for Queenie, you can’t blame yourself for Credence,” Tina chided gently, “I-I feel awful too...if we’d only been a bit quicker, stayed a step ahead...but sometimes it don’t work out that way.” Despite her encouraging words, Tina couldn’t hold back the painful bitterness of her failure over Credence either. And for the second time too.

“Paris was a real wakeup call,” Newt sighed heavily, “we...lost a lot.”

“Yeah, I’m real sorry about Leta,” Tina said sincerely, “I only got to meet her for those few minutes in the case, but she seemed very nice. I wish I hadn’t been...oh, I’m so sorry, Newt!”

“I’m sorry too,” Newt replied, “I should have been more forthcoming. A lot could have been...well, that’s all in the past. I lost a dear friend, my soon to be sister in law. I’m scared for Theseus, honestly…”

“You’re right to be asking him to stay with you, that should help,” Tina assured him.

“But you know, I wasn’t just talking about people when I said we lost a lot,” Newt continued, “the setback for the fight against Grindelwald...the inroads he made...I fear this is the beginning of a very long war. This isn’t going away so quickly.”

“No, it’s not,” Tina sighed against his chest, “but I’m ready to fight.”

“We are ready to fight,” Newt kissed the top of her head, “we’re in this together.”

“Together is nice…” Tina yawned.

“Do you think you can go back to sleep now?” Newt asked.

“I guess,” Tina mumbled, snuggling up against him more.

“Good. Because it’ll do nobody any good if you can’t sleep at night, love,” he gave her a quick peck on the lips. Her eyes were already closed, but she managed a small smile before falling back asleep. Newt was not far behind.

The late night chat left them sleeping rather later than usual, and the pair found themselves waking up to the sound of frantic knocking. 

Newt and Tina looked at each other frantically, then at the door. “Coming! Just a minute!” Newt called out loudly, and the knocking stopped. Then he and Tina shared a momentary silent exchange before hopping out of bed and pulling their discarded clothes back on. They were very much in a rumple, but what could they do? As long as they were at least decent, they couldn’t really keep the healers waiting. 

“Sorry to have woken you,” the first healer chuckled as Tina opened the door to let them in. 

“N-no, you didn’t, uh, wake us at all,” she stammered out, trying to sound even the smallest bit believable. The two healers just looked at each other, then shrugged and returned to doing their assessment.

“Oh, Mr. Scamander, your brother has recovered and will be released later today,” the healer examining him said, “as he has already battled the infection, he can go straight home.”

Newt’s relief tensed up a little. He didn’t want Theseus alone, even for a few days. At his place, there was Jacob, plus Bunty was staying over until Newt got back. 

“Do you think you can persuade him to...to stay at my flat? I don’t want him-”

“Yes, understandable,” the healer shook his head sadly, “we will work on persuading him then.” Assessment done, the healers said their goodbyes for the day, and once again left Newt and Tina to a long day in isolation.

“Do you even know what day of the week it is?” Tina mused over breakfast, “Because I’m not sure I do anymore.”

“Yes, the days do have a way of sort of blending together in here,” Newt shrugged. 

“And I’m such a mess too, but I don’t even care at this point. Though I have to say, it sure is nice not having to wear layers and layers of undergarments,” Tina joked. 

“Do you have to go back to wearing undergarments?” Newt pouted, “they do complicate things rather more than necessary…” 

Tina swatted him playfully, and soon, they found themselves kissing as though in a wrestling match and wrenching each other’s clothes off. 

“You know,” Tina told him after they’d finished, as she lazily traced the scars on his back while laying in his arms, “undergarments can be a nice touch, even if they do, as you say, complicate things,” she smirked suggestively, before continuing, “Once we’re outta here, I might even get some special ones from...what’d you say the wizarding shopping district here is called?”

“Diagon Alley,” Newt answered proudly, “and that would be very nice. I look forward to taking you there. And also seeing what you do decide to buy,” he winked. 

“Oh, just you wait,” Tina grinned gleefully, drawing him in for a kiss.

Despite the frequent jokes about having no need for clothes as long as the healers weren’t around, they actually did get dressed after showering. It was only late morning, so the day was still long ahead of them. Even being more than halfway through, and even having each other, the time left stretched interminably and the monotony was wearing on them. 

Newt got a mischievous glint in his eye. “How about we have a little spell casting tournament to pass the time,” he suggested.

“I don’t like that look in your eye,” Tina said suspiciously, “you want to do something that’s probably unsafe and illegal.”

“Don’t you go all auror on me,” Newt huffed bemusedly, “besides, do you have any better ideas?”

“It’s...I just...Oh all right, what the hell...I’m bored too,” Tina begrudgingly agreed, “but there’s gonna be rules here, OK? No fire, for one. No tranfiguring or conjuring anything that can damage stuff. And the loser cleans everything up.” 

“Deal,” Newt held out his hand, Tina shook it in a firm, no-nonsense grip, and the competition began.

After two hours of what essentially amounted to a playful duel that somehow turned into paintballing, Newt had to admit defeat. Not that he expected to best his auror girlfriend. 

“I think we should leave the paint on the walls,” Newt said thoughtfully, “the pure white is rather maddening, I like it better this way.”

“You agreed to the rules, honey,” Tina sweetly kissed the tip of his paint covered nose, “now, I’ll get dinner started in the meantime. Besides, if you clean up, I might agree to a rematch tomorrow.”

Newt grumbled, but a deal was a deal, so he got his wand out and cleaned up the mess they’d made with their game. Then they sat down to dinner as the window began to darken. After dinner, they needed a quieter activity, so Newt brought out the Exploding Snap set.

“I can promise you there will be plenty to do once you’ve moved in with me,” Newt assured Tina, as she scrunched her face at her teetering cards. 

“I don’t think I’ll want to look at Exploding Snap for a long time,” Tina groaned as her cards collapsed with a pathetic whimper.

“I do have a very nice chess set I inherited from my grandfather,” said Newt, “so that will make for a nice change. But I mean it when I say we’ll have plenty to do. The creatures and all…”

Tina’s face lit up at the mention of the creatures. “I can’t wait to see the basement you told me about in your letters! And yeah, I expect not to be working for a while, I bet it’ll take forever to transfer my job.”

“You’re going to love working with my assistant, Bunty,” Newt said, “she’s really wonderful, and she just loves the creatures so, and always staying late and…” he trailed off as he saw Tina scowling. 

“Tina?”

“It’s nothing, I’m fine,” she snapped irritably, then, in response to Newt’s raised eyebrow, “alright, I’m just...it’s stupid, really.”

“It’s not stupid, if I’ve done something wrong, you should tell me,” Newt implored.

“I worry...I worry that I’m not good enough,” she murmured, looking down.

“Not good enough? How on earth…?” Newt placed a hand on Tina’s shoulder, and tried to cup her cheek with his other hand, but she turned away and started to cry. 

“You’re famous and can have literally any witch on the planet, you have an assistant who is probably more experienced and better with your creatures than I am, and what am I compared to-”

Newt cut her off with a kiss. “How could you think such a thing? Tina, you’re my everything. And for a whole lot longer than the last few days...Does anyone else have eyes like a salamander?” he swiped a tear from the corner of one of Tina’s eyes as he said it, “no. Only you. Is there another witch as brilliant and understanding, so totally middle head?” Tina couldn’t help quirking her lips in a small smile at that, just as she had done the first time he’d said it a week and a half ago, before Newt once again answered his own question, “no. Again, that is only you, love. You have a bold and brave heart that I’ve seen in no one else but Frank, the Thunderbird…”

“Did you say Thunderbird?” Tina sniffed, looking up momentarily.

“Yes. I did,” Newt cupped her cheek softly and gazed into her eyes, “you’re bold and beautiful as a thunderbird and-”

“That was my school house you know,” she whispered shyly, looking away for a moment.

“Well, that makes perfect sense to me,” Newt whispered in her ear, “now, tell me again, how you could possibly believe I would so much as breathe in the direction of anyone other than you.” He started trailing kisses along Tina’s jaw, causing her to moan.

“I guess I’m just real lucky then,” she murmured as Newt continued to kiss his way down her neck. 

“No, I am the one who is unbelievably lucky,” Newt insisted as he took her by the hands and led her to the bed to show her exactly how wanted and desired she was…

The night ran late, and so, they woke up late in the morning. As if it was a continuation of the night before, they woke up with a heated passion, which very quickly progressed. In their ecstasy, they noticed neither the time nor the knocking on their door. 

“Tina…” Newt exhaled against her neck as he finished, before collapsing on top of her. Tina held him tight, wrapped around him, as he recovered. And that was how the healers found them when, after ten minutes of knocking and receiving no answer, they had let themselves in, concerned that perhaps their patients had become too ill to come to the door. 

Tina screamed and quickly pulled the blanket over them, while Newt yelped “bugger!” as he rolled off her and smacked his head on the headboard. 

“Er...will you be ready if we come back in ten minutes?” one of the healers asked, miraculously not bursting into laughter.

“Yes,” Tina and Newt both squeaked together. 

With that, the door slammed shut, and they stared at the ceiling blinking for a minute, in shock.

“Well, then,” Newt said calmly, “they said they’d be back in a few minutes. We should be dressed for that.”

“Can we just skip it?” Tina groaned, hiding her face in her hands, “or maybe ask them to send someone else? I can’t look them in the eye, ever again…”

“Could you look them in the eye before, even? With those masks…”

“Newt!” Tina swatted him, but rolled out of bed to get dressed. 

Sure enough, the healers returned after ten minutes. Newt and Tina greeted them tomato-faced and staring at the floor, while the healers came in and began conducting their usual assessment with no further commentary, as though nothing had happened. Newt and Tina were both very tense and awkward, to the point that they registered higher blood pressure numbers than usual. Neither healer seemed concerned, though neither said anything about the obvious reason why blood pressures ran a bit high this morning.

Assessment completed, the healers politely wished them a good day and reminded them, perhaps a bit more pointedly than usual (though perhaps Newt and Tina were imagining that), of the time at which they’d be back tomorrow.

Newt and Tina both rested their backs against the door as they closed it behind the healers. They turned to look at each other, then broke down laughing. 

“Why are we laughing?” Tina wheezed out through her tears of mirth, “that was the most embarrassing moment of our lives...they are probably laughing at us right now…”

“What more can we do?” Newt replied, drawing breath between chuckles, “what happened happened. It was rather hilarious, if you think about it…” 

They embraced and continued laughing as they held each other, stealing small kisses. 

“I suppose we should be grateful it was two healers we don’t really know, with masks that probably obscured at least some of the view…” Tina sighed as they calmed down, “I mean, it could be worse. I don’t know if I could ever look Jacob in the eye again if it was him.”

“Or Theseus, for that matter,” Newt added.

“Ugh, don’t even mention that possibility…” Tina shook her head vigorously. 

“Be that as it may, we are going to have to be extra careful when we come home,” Newt reasoned, “after all, it’s going to be a very crowded flat.”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be quite as...well, quite the same as we are here…” she chuckled. 

“No...we probably should think about how we’re to manage,” he agreed, “both the where and the when.”

“Will we even share a room?” Tina bit her lip nervously, “I mean with others around-”

“Only if you want to,” Newt squeezed her hands lovingly, “it’s up to you. If you don’t mind at all what others will say, we certainly can, but if it would bother you, we don’t have to.”

“I’m not sure,” Tina said honestly, “I’m even feeling a little bad telling them about, well, about how we’re seein’ each other now…”

“We do have to be sensitive,” Newt sighed heavily, “they must both be really suffering...I don’t think we can or should hide it, but, perhaps we should not be too...expressive around them.”

“Especially your brother,” Tina agreed, “I mean, at least for Jacob, Queenie’s still out there somewhere. Plus, he knows both of us.”

“And he’s been expecting it of us...Theseus doesn’t know that I’ve spent the better part of a year madly in love,” Newt kissed Tina’s temple softly, “might come as a bit of a shock to him. We’ll need to break it gently.”

“I suppose we can disillusion ourselves when we really need to,” Tina suggested.

“I don’t think we’ll need to go quite that far,” Newt replied, “the where isn’t that complicated, we can always go to my case. Nobody goes in there without me. The difficulty is going to be finding the time. They’ll know when we’re sneaking off to be alone.”

“And they’ll never let us live it down,” Tina groaned. 

“No, I suppose they won’t,” Newt grinned cheekily, before leaning in to kiss her. 

“I suppose we’ll just have to figure things out,” Tina smiled as they pulled apart, “just like we always do.” 

“As long as we’re together, we can figure out anything,” Newt agreed, “now how about a rematch of yesterday’s paint fight?”

“Sure!” Tina readily agreed, “but you’re dead meat, Mister Scamander. I don’t go easy on anyone, not even my fella.” 

“Is that a challenge, Miss Goldstein?” Newt quirked an eyebrow as he pulled out his wand.

“It sure is,” Tina grinned devilishly, “now come and get me!” she laughed as she fired off the first shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know when I'll be getting to the next chapter. It'll probably be a week, or maybe a little more. Passover starts Wednesday night so the next few days will be mad preparations (even though it's just me and my husband and kids. It's a lot of prep work even without hosting anyone) and I will be completely offline from Wednesday night through Saturday night. But I do have the last three chapters mapped out, even if they're not written, so I won't leave you waiting too long. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts below! Hope everyone's hanging in there <3


	8. Days 12-13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The closer they get to the end, the longer the days seem to stretch. But at least Newt and Tina have each other!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's short and not particularly exciting, but I hope it captures the boredom and the restlessness they're feeling, waiting to be allowed to resume real life. And hey, at least for them, they know the end date! Not like us, with no end in sight...Hope this can at least brighten somebody's day! And I promise, the final two chapters will have more going on!

As the days came closer to the end of the isolation term, they seemed to stretch longer and longer, though being the beginning of October, they were, of course, actually getting shorter. 

“Is it just me, or do the days go slower the longer we’re in here?” Tina complained as they rolled out of bed to shower and get ready on the morning of the 12th day, before the healers arrived. They had been extra alert and quick this morning, very much wanting to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s incident.

“Are you getting tired of me already?” Newt teased, “it sounded to me as though you rather enjoyed what we just did…”

Tina smacked him with the towel she was holding and chased him into the shower room. “You know what I mean,” she rolled her eyes dramatically as he waved his wand to start the shower. They stood together, holding each other directly under the stream of water. 

“As much as I enjoy...stuff, there’s only so much of the day we can spend on that,” she explained before kissing Newt into silence. 

“I suppose that’s fair,” he admitted when they came up for breath, “and I certainly would like to spend time with you in more ways than the few we have available in here.”

Once the healers were done and breakfast was eaten, it was not even 10. They had some new magazines that the healers had brought over, but they were feeling weary and restless. Even the recently discovered paintball fighting game didn’t seem all that exciting. 

“52 hours to go, give or take…” Newt sighed looking at the clock, “so allowing for 16 of those hours sleeping, we have 36 hours to fill. Now, let’s see…I mean, we can simply take longer with eating and showering and...other things,” he winked mischievously.

“I like the sound of that,” Tina winked back, “although it’s still a lot of hours to fill. Much as we’d like to think we can, we’re not going to actually spend a day and a half doing, as you call it,  _ other things _ .”

“Well, why don’t we plan all the things we’ll get to do when we leave?” Newt suggested.

“I’m game,” Tina shrugged.

“Now that we know you’re going to be staying in London, I’ll need to acquaint you with your new city,” Newt offered.

“And I very much look forward to it,” Tina smiled shyly, “though you’ll have a helluva time convincing me anything could be better than New York.”

Despite her cheeky grin, Newt detected a sadness around her eyes. Of course it made sense, she was giving everything up, including the home she’d always known…

“I’m sorry,” he took her hands gently, “I know it can’t be easy, and New York will always be your home, but-”

Tina cut him off with a kiss. “New York may be the only home I’ve ever known, but there’s nothing left there for me. I’m going to miss it, and I’ll be sad about it, but it’s not my home anymore. My home,” she cupped Newt’s cheek gently, “is wherever you are.” And with that, they shared another slow kiss.

“I’m thrilled to be your home,” Newt whispered against her lips, “and to have a home in you…”

“So, what will be our first London activity once we’re free?” Tina sighed giddily, nuzzling his nose.

“I think I shall take you out, somewhere nice,” Newt began, before pulling her up from the chair, “and then we will go dancing.” He waltzed her around the room then twirled her around with a flourish. 

“I never took you for being one for dancing,” Tina giggled.

“I’m not,” Newt admitted, “but for you, I think I can make an exception. Plus, we’ll have music once we’re out.”

“That’s true. You know, I can’t believe they couldn’t even leave us a dusty old phonograph or something in here,” Tina shook her head at their sparse surroundings, “it sure will be nice to have music again!”

“There’s more,” Newt added, “you will, of course, need to meet my parents, although that’s secondary to meeting my mother’s ‘griffs.”

“Oh right!” Tina’s eyes lit up, “you said your mother breeds hippogriffs! I’ve never actually seen one, you know…”

“So I’ll take you up to see them. And perhaps, if you’re amenable,” Newt said with a twinkle in his eye, before sweeping Tina right off her feet to peals of laughter, “we can ride one!” 

He spun around with Tina in his arms for a few seconds before losing his balance. They collapsed in a laughing heap onto the bed. “That sounds wonderful, Newt,” Tina said softly, before kissing him sweetly. 

“We have a whole life ahead of us, Tina,” Newt replied, looking up at her with starry eyes and caressing her cheek, “I know once we’re out, we’ll have plenty of challenges, and of course responsibilities, but we’ll be together, and we can enjoy what we can in our spare time.” He kissed her back soundly.

“OK, so you’re gonna take me out for dinner, dancing, meeting the parents, and a romantic hippogriff ride,” Tina ticked off the list on her fingers after they broke apart and sat back up, “so, what else is there?”

“Well, we mentioned it before,” Newt said, “but of course, Diagon Alley will be the absolute first stop. You must see it, but also practically, we’ll have all sorts of errands to do, replenishing stores, needing to get things you might not have-”

“The apothecary,” Tina cut in softly, nervously placing her hands over her abdomen. They hadn’t spoken of it since first realizing it was a possibility. But the fact was, in two weeks or so, it would be time to find out for sure. 

Newt placed his hands over hers. “Yes, we’ll need to make a stop there. And we can also purchase a preventative potion to use going forward if it turns out you aren’t…listen, Tina,” he pressed his lips softly to her forehead, “it’s going to be alright. Even if you are...I’m here. We’ll figure it out, whatever the case may be. I promise.”

“Figure it out...It’s all we can do,” Tina sighed, “and I thought the time till we get outta here was going so slow...but it’ll be about two weeks until we can reliably test, and that’s gonna be a long time to wait too.”

“All the more reason to make sure we have plenty to do to pass the time,” Newt shrugged, “in the meantime, fancy another paintball match?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tina agreed, pulling him up with her, “it’s still the AM. We’ve still got a long day ahead of us.”

“Our best bet is to take everything as slow as we can,” Newt decided, “have a leisurely match, followed by a leisurely cleanup and a leisurely lunch. And then, perhaps later…” he cupped her rear and winked, “we can take our time with that too.”

“You think we’ll be keeping up our twice a day pace once we leave?” Tina smirked suggestively.

“As much as I wish to say yes, I really don’t think so,” Newt shrugged, “for one thing, the creatures will never allow it, they’re far too needy,” he shook his head fondly.

“You mean you spoil them,” Tina teased, “and they’re not used to their mummy having private time.”

“I do not, I offer a firm hand when-”

“Yeah, worked real well with Pickett,” TIna snorted.

“Oh my, Pickett,” Newt smacked his forehead, “I think we can expect his, erm, attachment issues to worsen for a bit once we’re reunited…”

“Oh Newt,” Tina ran her fingers through his hair, “please never stop being ridiculous!”

“After a lifetime of being told to stop doing exactly that, I do believe that’s an order I shall be happy to comply with,” Newt replied with a peck, before traversing to the other side of the room to get into position to begin their paint battle. 

Surprisingly, the day moved a little faster once they’d eaten lunch. One of the magazines had a crossword puzzle that was actually somewhat challenging and took awhile for them to complete, and right after dinner, they had a very long and passionate lovemaking session to end the day, after which they laid in each other’s arms for well over an hour, just enjoying each other’s company before dropping off to sleep.

The following morning started much the same as the last several days, but today’s check with the healers took slightly longer, as they explained the procedure for tomorrow after completing the usual assessment.

“We will return tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM, rather than our usual 9 AM visit,” the first healer explained, “and pending all vital signs being normal, you will be released upon completion. We will return the clothing you came here wearing, it has been laundered and sanitized since then. You can change for the outdoors and will be free to go home. Once you’ve left, you are fully cleared and do not need to do anything further. There is no need to do anything to these quarters, a team will sanitize and prepare it for the next time it is needed."

Newt and Tina had a long hug after the healers left. “It’s finally happening!” Tina squealed, “this is our last full day in here and then we’re done with this place!”

“I can’t wait either,” Newt whispered into her hair, “though I must say, I have very much enjoyed having you all to myself. Once real life starts up again…”

“Yeah, that’ll definitely take some getting used to,” Tina agreed, “but I suppose nobody lives like this for too long...besides, it’ll be awhile anyway before I’m really back to real life, I doubt I’ll be working anytime soon. Oh no…” her face suddenly fell.

“What?” Newt asked concernedly, holding her close.

“My apartment...all my things...how am I gonna close out and move it all here?” Tina groaned just thinking about the logistics of it all.

Newt wanted so badly to promise that he’d be with her for all that, but realized that it was rather unlikely his travel ban would be lifted any time soon, not after he’d already broken it so thoroughly. 

“I’d help, but honestly, I can’t promise I’ll be allowed to travel to New York,” he sighed heavily, “I can’t imagine the Ministry will be terribly pleased that I went to Paris with my travel ban still very much under effect…though perhaps...”

“Perhaps what?” Tina asked dejectedly.

“Perhaps Theseus will be willing to accompany you, and maybe bring along some friends to help. Or perhaps they’ll allow me to accompany you under very strict conditions, like not leaving your flat, and allowing them to put a Trace on me to make sure of that.”

“I guess we can decide in the next few days,” Tina shrugged, already feeling slightly better about the idea of at least having some help with moving, “it’s been two weeks of not being able to do anything at all, a few more days figuring it out won’t make a difference.”

“I suppose so. And I’m sure both the Ministry and MACUSA will be wanting to talk to us as soon as possible anyway,” Newt reasoned, “so we can discuss it with them then.”

After a leisurely breakfast, the couple was very antsy. “I feel like we should be doing stuff, like preparing to go home on the last day of a vacation,” said Tina, looking around, “and yet, there’s nothing we can do. We’re not supposed to clean up. We don’t even have any of our own belongings here besides our wands, so there’s nothing to pack.”

“I suppose we may as well just do the same thing we’ve been doing every day,” Newt shrugged, “at least it’s our last day.”

“Second to last,” Tina rolled her eyes, “we’re still here most of tomorrow, and we won’t even have a break in the morning because the healers aren’t coming until it’s actually time to discharge us.” 

“Well, either way, we are so very close,” Newt said, pecking her temple, “so we can do this. Now, do you fancy Exploding Snap first or paint fight? Or perhaps new ideas?”

The day moved slower than all of the days they’d been here. Nothing they did seemed to take up any time and they found themselves eating dinner at a quarter to six from sheer boredom. 

“Well, we’ve got just about 21 hours to go,” Newt tried to sound optimistic, “and at least 8 of those will be spent sleeping. We really are nearly there…” 

Even attempting to take things slow in bed that evening didn’t work. They were too restless and antsy and finished rather quickly. They laid in each other’s arms, staring at the clock that now read 7, willing it to move faster. 

“Early night?” Newt whispered in her ear, “perhaps we can even sleep extra. Might as well try.”

“And then find ourselves waking up at dawn on what’s sure to be the longest day of our lives,” Tina huffed.

“Well, let’s just talk like this,” Newt suggested, settling them into a comfortable spooning position, “and take it from there.”

“I definitely can’t complain about that,” Tina smiled as she relaxed in Newt’s arms, “I love you.”

“And I love you,” Newt kissed her temple softly, “and I love just spending time with you, even when we’re going stir-crazy.”

It took them a long time to fall asleep. Even after Tina decided she was actually tired and wanted to try going to sleep, they both tossed and turned for hours, waiting for sleep to come. It did come, eventually, and the longest day was over. Tomorrow would be an interminable wait as well, but at least it wouldn’t be a full day. 


	9. Day 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt and Tina say farewell to the isolation room-- and to the bed that started it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last bit of smut for their last day in isolation. After all, they owe that one bed a proper farewell.

To Newt’s pleasant surprise, it wasn’t dawn when he woke up. He quickly glanced at the clock and saw it was after 8.

“Tina, it’s after 8,” he whispered, shaking her awake, “we should probably get ready-”

“They’re not coming this morning, remember?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Oh, right,” Newt bit his lip, “so sorry, love, go back to-”

“Nah, I’m awake now,” she turned to face him before capturing his lips in a searing kiss, “we have loads of time before we have to be decent.”

Newt cupped her breast and started toying with her nipple, then stopped for a moment. “Are you sure you want to do it now?” he asked, “after all, by this afternoon, we can do the whole thing properly, with me taking you out for a nice celebratory dinner, and then spending the night in our own home.”

“I see no reason we can’t do both,” Tina smirked, “besides, I think this bed deserves one last use.”

“Indeed,” said Newt, with a naughty glint in his eye, “we owe this particular bed a lot. It has been rather instrumental in bringing us together.”

“I have to admit,” Tina replied as she trailed kisses along the scars on Newt’s shoulders, down to his chest, “when we first got here, and I saw there was only one bed, I was hoping you wouldn’t be all gallant and insist on sleeping on the floor…”

“And I only offered as a formality. I knew I wasn’t going to argue if you offered to share,” Newt admitted, before grabbing one of Tina’s hardened nipples in his mouth, tasting and teasing until she moaned in delight. He made sure, as he always did, that he gave both breasts equal attention. 

“So,” she breathed out, “how are...the accommodations in your case?”

With a final flick of his tongue, Newt released the nipple in his mouth to answer, while Tina took the opportunity to map Newt’s scars and freckles with her own tongue.

“I spend enough time down there that I have a good bed,” he whispered in her ear, before planting little kisses along her neck and shoulder, “it is not so spacious, but that could be to our advantage. Or, if you prefer, I could expand it. I know a thing or two about expansion charms, you know…”

“I know a bit about expansion charms myself,” Tina said teasingly, as she took Newt’s hardened length in her hand.

“Don’t need...charms to...make me expand,” Newt gasped as Tina took him in her mouth. As she bobbed up and down on him, he couldn’t draw enough breath to say anything more, until he needed her to stop, for the sake of continuing.

“Easy, love,” he managed, and she slowly released him, “allow me the chance to give you yours.”

With that, he pushed Tina back onto the mattress and began kissing his way back down. He came to her thighs and teased his way to her center, trailing little bites along the way. She was already trembling with anticipation when he finally arrived at his destination, immediately diving in and grabbing her clit with his mouth, causing her to gasp loudly. 

He alternated between light flicking and frantic sucking, as she ground herself against his mouth, crying out loudly as she came apart. Newt sat up against the headboard and pulled her into his lap. She kissed him fiercely, pressing him into the headboard as she straddled him, ready to take him inside.

“So, this is it,” Newt husked out, gripping Tina’s hips, “our farewell to the bed that started it all. You ready?”

Tina answered by sinking down onto him, as they both sighed raggedly before beginning to move. The pace grew fast and frantic, and Tina clung to Newt’s shoulders as she felt herself building up again. Newt continued holding her about the waist with one hand, and brought the other up to tangle in her hair, as he kissed her hard and sloppily. 

Tina cried out loudly as she reached her climax, before burying her face in Newt’s shoulder, letting him take over as he chased his own finish. He held her close as he pounded into her, snapping his hips rhythmically. He called out her name as he tumbled hard and fast over the edge. She laid back on the bed, pulling him down on top of her, as he filled her with his release. 

They laid together, panting as they came back to themselves. Eventually, Newt slipped out, and rolled over to Tina’s side, taking her in his arms and entwining their legs together.

“Well, I’d say that was a fine farewell to our loyal bed,” he grinned, patting the mattress.

“I’d expect nothing less from you,” Tina replied, kissing the tip of his nose, “and I look forward to new adventures in new accomodations.”

“And I look forward to sharing such adventures,” Newt replied before kissing her softly. 

With no real need to get out of bed just yet, they laid around for a while just kissing and caressing each other. However, soon they got a little hungry, and decided to wash up and get breakfast ready.

“Man, I’m gonna miss showering together,” she sighed against Newt’s shoulder as they stood under the shower head. 

“What makes you think we won’t be showering together anymore?” Newt furrowed his brow.

“Well, we might be able to sneak one sometimes,” Tina conceded, “but with the little privacy we’re gonna have, I don’t think we’ll be able to manage it that often.”

“Then I suppose we should savor this one,” Newt replied, as they held each other tighter. 

“I won’t miss the food here, though,” Tina grimaced, as they picked at the soggy eggs they’d managed to fix up. As Tina had predicted on their first morning here, the poor selection paired with their mediocre cooking skills did indeed have them leaving a bit thinner than they’d entered.

“I haven’t noticed a change,” Newt wrapped his arms around Tina and pecked her cheek, “and I’m sure Jacob will help fatten us back up.”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to Jacob’s food,” Tina’s mouth watered just thinking about it, “especially breakfast. You never got the chance to try his pastries, they’re something else. Especially the pasczis…”

Newt looked at the clock. It was almost 10:30. “Six hours till a decent meal then,” he shrugged, “almost there!”

With no preparations to make beyond clearing up after breakfast, they found themselves staring down four more hours. They reread the magazines they had, played two rounds of Exploding Snap (they were definitely glad to say goodbye to that game) and of course spent some time cuddling and kissing. But four hours is quite a bit of time to fill when there’s really nothing to do, and they soon grew restless. 

“Looking at the clock every five minutes ain’t gonna make it move any faster,” Tina teased Newt a little after 1:30, “we’ve still got an hour and a half to go. So close!”

“You think perhaps we can sneak in one more…” he raised an eyebrow.

“I thought we were waiting for your case tonight,” Tina chided, “and I don’t think even we can handle three times in one day.”

Newt pretended to pout even though he actually agreed, and took to pacing the room again, trying to think of what to do with their remaining time. 

“Charades, maybe?” Tina suggested.

“Now you think of it?” Newt chuckled, “we could have used that, especially over the last few days. Alright then, you want to start?” 

It worked. Newt was in the middle of attempting to act out Babbity Rabbity’s Cackling Stump without actually cackling when the long awaited knock sounded at the door. 

“Finally!” Tina groaned as Newt went over to the door to let them in. 

The assessment was the same ten minutes it always was, but even those few minutes felt like hours. But, the examination did finish at last, and they were given their regular clothes and pronounced fit to leave. The healers stepped outside into the hallway to give Newt and Tina a few minutes to change, and then escorted the pair down the hall to the door outside. 

It took a few moments to adjust to the light and the fresh air they hadn’t had for two long weeks. The healers, who by now had vanished their masks and protective suits, shook their hands and wished them well before disapparating. 

Newt and Tina stood there for a few minutes more, just breathing in the outdoor air and basking in the sunlight. “I never thought I’d ever want to take such deep breaths of London air, but, well, here we are,” Newt grinned boyishly.

“It’s no worse than New York air,” Tina smiled back, “and it’s pretty close to what I’m used to. I think I’ll be alright here.”

Newt pulled her in for a kiss, and they kissed for several minutes in the weak autumn sunlight. “I think I’d like to walk rather than apparate. What do you say?” Newt asked.

“I agree, we really need to stretch our legs,” Tina nodded, “now, take me home, Newt!”

“Yes, home,” Newt gallantly kissed her hand, before offering up his arm, which Tina happily took. Arm in arm, they walked all the way. 


	10. Two Weeks Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt and Tina transition back to real life. But there can never really be a a dull moment with these two...

The two weeks since leaving quarantine were quite a whirlwind. Newt’s home was full to bursting. There were inquiries conducted by several ministries. As expected, MACUSA deemed Tina a liability and she no longer had a job with them. Theseus managed to successfully lobby for both her transfer to the Ministry and a temporary and limited lifting of Newt’s travel ban so that he could travel to New York to help Tina pack up her apartment. Newt agreed to the use of the Trace for the duration of the trip to make sure he stayed in the apartment and also agreed to leave all his creatures behind in London. With little else to do but pack, everything was taken care of in a matter of days, and they were soon back in London.

Tina then had to settle into life in a new country and in Newt’s very full home. In addition to Jacob and Theseus, Nagini was staying there too, as she had nowhere else to go, and once Kama was discharged from the hospital, he came to stay as well, while deciding what his next move would be. 

Although Newt’s case offered an excellent private space for Newt and Tina, finding time to escape there (especially from the teasing eyes of Theseus and Jacob) was more tricky. But they managed to slip away now and then. Newt bought a condom the very day on which they were released from isolation. Even though there was a possibility that it didn’t matter anymore, they figured they might as well, until they knew one way or the other. 

They had decided to wait two weeks before checking, in order to ensure reliable results, and did not mention the possible situation during that time, even though it was already apparent a few days before the two weeks were up that Tina’s monthly visitor was most definitely late. They instead continued focusing on Tina’s transition to England and navigating life in a very crowded house. 

Tina bought the test potion a few days before the designated date while running other errands in Diagon Alley, and discreetly hid it in Newt’s case. Newt accompanied her to Diagon Alley that same day to help her set up an account at Gringotts and exchange her American money. What Tina didn’t notice was Newt making his own withdrawal from his family’s vault. Whether he would be making use of it in a few days or a few weeks, he decided that it was happening soon enough that it made sense for him to pick it up now...

The evening before the test, while laying in each other’s arms in the still-empty thunderbird enclosure looking at the fake stars, they finally discussed their thoughts on what was to happen the following day. 

“How are you feeling, Tina?” Newt asked, stroking her back soothingly.

“I’m scared,” Tina said plainly, “I mean, whatever happens, we’ll figure it out. But I’m scared.”

“I’m scared too,” Newt admitted, “but I stand by what I said the last time we discussed it. Like you said, we’ll figure it out. Together.”

“I love you,” Tina whispered, nuzzling against his shoulder.

“I love you too,” Newt replied, kissing her forehead. 

They soon got dressed and left the case. They couldn’t be gone for too long or they’d hear about it from Theseus and Jacob. The following day, they tried to proceed as normally as they could until they could escape to the case. Today, when they snuck away from their housemates, it wasn’t for the usual reason. 

Newt stood behind Tina, his arms wrapped around her waist and his head resting on her shoulder as she picked up the bottle of clear potion and read the instructions. 

“Add three drops of blood and swirl,” Tina read aloud, “leave for three minutes. There will be no change if negative. Potion will turn green if positive. Well, here goes,” she inhaled sharply. 

Newt squeezed her tighter. Tina summoned a small needle over and pricked her left index finger. She uncorked the potion with a tap of her wand and squeezed in three drops, gave it a swirl, then placed it on the worktable. Now there was nothing to do but wait. 

“Man, this is gonna be the longest three minutes of my life,” Tina grumbled. 

“I can think of something to pass the time,” Newt whispered in her ear. He twirled her around to face him, then tipped her back and kissed her soundly. Tina drew her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. 

When they broke apart, they held each other and touched their foreheads together. “Think that was three minutes?” Tina giggled softly.

“Possibly,” Newt grinned, “so, do you want to check, or should I?”

Tina’s face turned serious, as it hit her that the moment was truly here, when she was about to find out whether her life was about to irrevocably change. Newt squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Remember, whatever happens, we’re in this together,” he told her.

“Together. Right. So, on the count of three, let’s look together,” Tina decided. Newt kissed her forehead to show his agreement.

“One...two...three…”

They turned around to look at the worktable, and there, before them, stood a vial full of unmistakably green potion. 

Tina put a hand to her mouth as she gasped. Newt slid his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. He looked to her face for any sign of what she was feeling, and his heart sank as he saw a tear sliding down her face.

“Tina,” he said softly, “I’m here, and I will support you no matter what. If-if…” he had trouble saying the words, dreading the answer, but pressed on, knowing she needed to hear it, “if it’s too much for you, if you feel you can’t, I-I-I...I will make the necessary arrangements for taking care-”

“No, I-I could never...it wouldn’t feel right to me,” Tina shook her head, “I’m scared though. Terrified. I’m not ready for this, Newt,” she said hoarsely, through her tears.

“I understand,” Newt tenderly cupped her cheek, and wiped the tears away with his thumb, “I can’t say I’m ready for this either. But it seems we’re going to be getting ready, yes? That’s what you want to do?”

Tina nodded shakily, gazing intently into the oceans that were Newt’s eyes. Newt inhaled sharply and removed his hand from Tina’s cheek to rummage around in his pocket. He found the small box and closed his fingers around it as he got down on one knee and took one of Tina’s hands in his.

“I love you, Tina,” he mumbled, too nervous to look up, “this isn’t quite how I imagined doing this, but I did promise you, ever since we first realized this might happen, that I would take full responsibility. So, here I am. Tina, will you marry me?”

Tina was reeling in shock. She wanted to say yes, but instead, she slipped out, “Really?”

Newt’s face fell. “Do you not want…”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...that’s not what I meant…” Tina stammered, racing to fix her mistake, “it’s not that I don’t want to. I do! My answer is yes, it’s just...I want to make sure you really want to….”

“Why would I ask if I didn’t want to?” Newt, still down on one knee, looked up at her, puzzled.

“I mean, is it that you really want to, or are you just trying to be honorable?” 

Newt stood back up to look straight into her eyes. “Both, I suppose,” he held up the ring, still in the box, then looked away again.

“I took this out of the Scamander family vault the other day, while we were at Gringotts setting up your account,” he started to explain, “my mother, she had a pair of earrings, and once both Theseus and I were of age, she had each one fashioned into a ring, one for each of us to use when we were ready…” he trailed off, mind wandering for a moment to this ring’s counterpart and the wedding that now would never be. 

Then, realizing he was rambling, he came back to the present moment. “I took it out not knowing what the result of today’s test would be. Because, even if it came out negative, I already knew I was going to be proposing very soon. Perhaps not today, but within a few weeks at most. I already knew I wanted to marry you, Tina, regardless of the outcome,” he gestured briefly to the vial of green potion still sitting on the table, “But yes, the fact that you have fallen pregnant did move the timeline up a bit. I was raised to be a gentleman, after all, and part of that means, well, taking responsibility. Which is what I am doing right now. But it is not the slightest burden to me, and I am nothing but happy. I want to marry you because I love you, Tina.” 

Tears were streaming freely down Tina’s face, and Newt looked at her helplessly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“You did nothing wrong,” Tina whispered hoarsely, “these are happy tears.” As Newt’s expression turned from pained bewilderment to happy relief, just as it had on the docks nearly a year ago when Tina had told him that she did, in fact, hope to see him again, Tina cupped his face, “I told you, yes! I love you, and I want to marry you, Newt!” 

Newt wordlessly took her hand and slipped the ring on. Then, they shared a slow, passionate kiss. “We’re getting married,” Newt whispered giddily against her lips when they broke apart, still keeping their heads together. 

“Yes,” Tina sighed happily, kissing him again.

Newt slid his hands down to rest on her abdomen. Tina covered them with her own hands and smiled shyly. 

“You alright?” he asked nervously, looking up.

“I’m still absolutely terrified,” she admitted, “but we’re going to be OK, and soon enough, I’ll make my peace with it. We’re getting married. We can do this. And I guess we’ll forever have a souvenir by which we can remember our time in isolation,” she winked.

Newt burst out laughing, then inclined his head toward the ladder. “So, shall we head back up and announce our engagement then? Just the engagement though, at least for now.”

“Well, I think they’re gonna figure it out soon enough, I imagine they all know how to count,” Tina sighed, blushing fiercely. 

“I imagine so,” Newt shrugged, “but we can still keep this a little secret between ourselves for just a bit longer.”

“I like the sound of that,” Tina agreed, kissing Newt’s cheek, as they headed for the ladder. Hand in hand, the happy couple made their way back upstairs, ready to face the world. Together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all probably saw it coming, but yeah, souvenir from their time in quarantine! And yes, there will be a sequel, which will be all about the wedding, the pregnancy and the baby! I'm already working on it, so stay tuned!

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike my usual practice, I do not have this all written out, and as I'm both homeschooling and working remotely at the moment, I'm obviously stretched a bit thin. I will update as I complete chapters, whenever that happens. I will also continue to update the other story I'm in the middle of posting.


End file.
